XXXVII. CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN…

XXXVII. CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN

DISCOVERY OF JAPAN BY EUROPEANS

THE Portuguese discovered Japan in 1542 or 1543--the precise date is not known. Three of them, travelling by junk from Spain to Macao, were driven from their course and landed at Tanegashima, a small island off the south of Kyushu. The strangers were hospitably received by the Japanese, and great interest was excited by their arquebuses, the first firearms ever seen in Japan. It was, of course, out of the question to hold any oral direct conversation, but a Chinese member of the junk's crew, by tracing ideographs upon the sand, explained the circumstances of the case. Ultimately, the junk was piloted to a convenient port, and very soon the armourers of the local feudatory were busily engaged manufacturing arquebuses. News of the discovery of Japan circulated quickly, and several expeditions were fitted out by Portuguese settlements in the Orient to exploit the new market. All steered for Kyushu, and thus the Island of the Nine Provinces became the principal stage for European intercourse during the second half of the sixteenth century.

THE JESUITS

There were, at that time, not a few Jesuits at Macao, Goa, and other outposts of Western commerce in the Far East. But not until 1549 was any attempt made to proselytize Japan. On August 15th of that year, Francis Xavier, a Jesuit priest, landed at Kagoshima. Before his coming, the Portuguese traders had penetrated as far as Kyoto, which they reported to be a city of some ninety-six thousand houses, and their experience of the people had been very favourable, especially with regard to receptivity of instruction. Xavier was weary of attempting to convert the Indians, whom he had found "barbarous, vicious, and without inclination to virtue," and his mind had been turned towards Japan by a message from a Japanese daimyo (whose identity and reasons for inviting him have never been explained), and by a personal appeal from a Japanese, whose name appears in Portuguese annals as "Anjiro," and who, having committed a serious crime in Japan, had taken refuge in a Portuguese vessel, whose master advised him to repair to Malacca and confess his sins to Xavier.

This man, Anjiro, already possessed some knowledge of the Portuguese language, and he soon became sufficiently proficient in it to act as interpreter, thus constituting a valuable aid to the Portuguese propagandists. Xavier, with two fellow countrymen and Anjiro, repaired to Kagoshima, where the Satsuma baron gave them unqualified permission to preach their doctrine. Not that he had any sympathy with Christianity, about which he knew nothing, but solely because he wished to secure a share in the oversea commerce which had brought so much wealth to his fellow barons on the main island. He thought, in short, that the Jesuits would be followed by merchant ships, and when Portuguese trading vessels did actually appear in the Satsuma waters, but, instead of making any stay there, passed on to the comparatively petty principality of Hirado, Xavier and his comrades were quickly ordered to leave Kagoshima. It seems, also, that Xavier's zeal had outrun his discretion. The Buddhist priests in Kagoshima were ready at first to listen respectfully to his doctrines, but were quickly alienated by his aggressive intolerance. They urged upon the Satsuma baron the dangers that attended such propagandism, and he, already smarting from commercial disappointment, issued an edict, in 1550, declaring it a capital offence to embrace Christianity. The edict was not retrospective. About one hundred and fifty converts whom Xavier, aided by Anjiro, had won during his two years' sojourn, were not molested, but Xavier himself passed on to the island of Hirado, where he was received by salvos of artillery from Portuguese vessels lying in harbour. Matsuura, the Hirado baron, had already been captivated by the commerce of the newcomers, and seeing the marked reverence extended by them to Xavier, the baron issued orders that respectful attention should be paid to the teaching of the foreign propagandist. Doubtless owing in large part to these orders, one hundred converts were made during the first ten days of Xavier's residence in Hirado.

It was, in fact, evident that the attitude of the official classes towards the new-comers was mainly influenced by the prospect of trade, and that the attitude of the non-official classes towards the foreign religion depended largely on the mood of their superiors. Xavier argued that "if the favour of such a small prince was so potent for the conversion of his subjects, it would be quite another thing if he (Xavier) could have the protection of the Emperor." He therefore, resolved to visit Kyoto. His journey took him in the first place to Yamaguchi, capital of the Choshu fief. This town lay on the northern shore of Shimonoseki Strait, and had long been the principal emporium of trade with China and Korea. But the ruler of the fief, though courteous to the new-comers, evinced no disposition to show any special cordiality towards humble missionaries unconnected with commerce. Therefore, finding that their preaching produced little effect, Xavier and his companion, Fernandez, continued their journey to Kyoto, which they reached after travelling for nearly two months on foot in the depth of winter. It happened, however, that the capital was then suffering sharply from the effects of internecine strife, and the two missionaries failed to obtain access to either the sovereign or the shogun.

Nothing remained, therefore, but recourse to street preaching, and for this they were ill equipped, for Xavier, constitutionally a bad linguist, knew very little of the Japanese language, and his companion, Fernandez, even less, while as for Anjiro, he had remained in Kagoshima. After devoting a few days to this unproductive task, Xavier returned to Yamaguchi. He had not made any converts in Kyoto, but he had learned a useful lesson, namely, that religious propagandism, to be successful in Japan, must be countenanced by the ruling classes. He therefore caused his canonicals to be sent to him from Hirado, together with his credentials from the viceroy of India, the governor of Malacca, and the bishop of Goa. These documents he submitted to the Choshu baron, accompanying them with certain rare objects of European manufacture, including a clock and a harpsicord. A permit to preach Christianity was now obtained without difficulty, and the Yamaguchi officials went so far as to issue a proclamation expressing approval of the Western religion and granting entire liberty to embrace it. An empty Buddhist monastery was assigned as a residence for Xavier and his companions, and the fact is certainly an eloquent testimony to the magnanimity of the Buddhist priests.

Many converts were now made, and fresh proof was obtained that the road to success lay in associating propagandism with commerce. It was nearly a decade since the Portuguese had effected their first landing on Tanegashima, and throughout that interval trade had flourished in their hands. They had not sought any new markets on the main island; first, because their ignorance of the coasts rendered navigation risky; and, secondly, because internecine war raged throughout almost the whole of the main island, whereas Kyushu enjoyed comparative tranquillity. Xavier now took advantage of a Portuguese vessel which called at Yamaguchi en route for Bungo, a province on the eastern littoral of Kyushu. His intention was to return for a time to the Indies, but on reaching Bungo he learned that its ruler, Otomo, wielded exceptional power and showed a disposition to welcome the Jesuit father.

This Otomo was destined ultimately to act a leading part on the stage of Christianity in Japan. Xavier now had recourse to methods suggested by his recent experiences. On a visit to Otomo he caused himself to be escorted by a large number of the Portuguese crew, who wore rich garments, carried arms, and flaunted banners. This procedure seems to have weighed cogently with Otomo, who was keenly desirous of attracting foreign traders and obtaining from them not only wealth but also novel and effective weapons of war. Seeing that Xavier was almost deified by the Portuguese, Otomo naturally applied himself to win the good-will of the Jesuits, and for that purpose not only accorded to them entire liberty to teach and to preach, but also despatched a messenger to his younger brother (who had just succeeded to the lordship of Yamaguchi), advising him to protect the two Jesuits then residing there, namely, Torres and Fernandez. Xavier remained four months in Bungo and then set sail for Goa in February, 1552. He died in December of the same year, and thus his intention of returning to Japan was defeated. His stay in Japan had lasted twenty-seven months, and in that interval he and his comrades had won some 760 converts.

RESULTS OF PROPAGANDISM

It is worth while to recapitulate here the main events during this first epoch of Christian propagandism in Japan. It has been shown that in more than a year's labours in Kagoshima, Xavier, with the assistance of Anjiro as an interpreter, obtained 150 believers. Now, "no language lends itself with greater difficulty than Japanese to the discussion of theological questions. The terms necessary for such a purpose are not current among laymen, and only by special study, which, it need scarcely be said, must be preluded by accurate acquaintance with the tongue itself, can a man hope to become duly equipped for the task of exposition and dissertation. It is open to grave doubt whether any foreigner has ever attained the requisite proficiency. Leaving Anjiro in Kagoshima, to care for the converts made there, Xavier pushed on to Hirado, where he baptized a hundred Japanese in a few days. Now, we have it on the authority of Xavier himself that, in this Hirado campaign, 'none of us knew Japanese.' How, then, did they proceed? 'By reciting a semi-japanese volume' (a translation made by Anjiro of a treatise from Xavier's pen) 'and by delivering sermons, we brought several over to the Christian cult.'

"Sermons preached in Portuguese or Latin to a Japanese audience on the island of Hirado in the year 1550 can scarcely have attracted intelligent interest. On his first visit to Yamaguchi, Xavier's means of access to the understanding of his hearers was confined to the rudimentary knowledge of Japanese which Fernandez had been able to acquire in fourteen months, a period of study which, in modern times with all the aids now procurable, would not suffice to carry a student beyond the margin of the colloquial. No converts were won. The people of Yamaguchi probably admired the splendid faith and devotion of these over-sea philosophers, but as for their doctrine, it was unintelligible. In Kyoto, the same experience was repeated with an addition of much physical hardship. But, when the Jesuits returned to Yamaguchi in the early autumn of 1551, they baptized five hundred persons, including several members of the military class. Still Fernandez with his broken Japanese was the only medium for communicating the profound doctrines of Christianity. It must be concluded that the teachings of the missionaries produced much less effect than the attitude of the local chieftain."*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

But the Jesuits have not left any misgivings on record. They relate that during Xavier's sojourn in Bungo he had numerous public debates--one continuing for five days--with Buddhist priests, but even Fernandez not being available as an interpreter, these debates must have been either farcical or imaginary, though brilliant results are claimed for them by the Church historians. That Xavier himself was not satisfied is proved by his determination to transfer his ministrations to China, for he said, "if the Chinese adopt the Christian religion, the Japanese also will abandon the religions they have introduced from China."

SECOND PERIOD OF PROPAGANDISM

Torres and Fernandez remained in Japan after Xavier's departure and were there joined soon afterwards by three others. The new-comers landed at Kagoshima and found that the Satsuma baron was as keen as ever in welcoming foreign trade, although his attitude towards the alien religion continued antipathetic. Bungo now became the headquarters of the Jesuits in Japan. Local disturbances had compelled them to leave Yamaguchi, where their disputes with Buddhist priests had become so violent that an official proscription of the Western religion was pronounced. In Funai, the capital of the province of Bungo, they built their first church in Japan and also a hospital. From that place, too, they began to send yearly reports known as the Annual Letters to their generals in Rome, and these Letters give an interesting insight into the conditions then existing in Japan. The writers "describe a state of abject poverty among the lower orders--poverty so cruel that the destruction of children by their famishing parents was an every-day occurrence." This terrible state of affairs was due to the civil wars which had entered their most violent phase in the Onin era (1467-1468), and had continued without intermission ever since. The trade carried on by the Portuguese did not, however, suffer any interruption. Their vessels repaired to Hirado as well as to Funai, and the masters and seamen of the ships appear to have treated the missionaries with such scrupulous respect that the Japanese formed an almost exaggerated conception of the civil influence wielded by the religionists. It further appears that in those early days the Portuguese seamen refrained from the riotous excesses which had already won for them a most unenviable reputation in China.

In fact, their good conduct constituted an object lesson in the interests of Christianity. We learn, incidentally that, in 1557, two of the fathers, visiting Hirado at the instance of some Portuguese sailors who felt in want of religious ministrations, organized a kind of propagandism which anticipated the methods of the Salvation Army. They "sent brothers to parade the streets, ringing bells, and chaunting litanies; they organized bands of boys for the same purpose; they caused the converts, and even children, to flagellate themselves at a model of Mount Calvary, and they worked miracles, healing the sick by contact with scourges or with a booklet in which Xavier had written litanies and prayers. It may well be imagined that such doings attracted surprised attention in Japan. They were supplemented by even more striking practices. For a sub-feudatory of the Hirado chief, having been converted, showed his zeal by destroying Buddhist temples and throwing down the idols, thus inaugurating a campaign of violence destined to mark the progress of Christianity throughout the greater part of its history in Japan. There followed the overthrowing of a cross in the Christian cemetery, the burning of a temple in the town of Hirado, and a street riot, the sequel being that the Jesuit fathers were compelled to return once more to Bungo."*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

All this conveys an idea of the guise under which Christianity was presented originally to the Japanese. Meanwhile, the Portuguese traders did not allow their commerce to be interrupted by any misfortunes which overtook the Jesuits. Hirado continued to be frequented by Portuguese merchantmen, and news of the value of their trade induced Sumitada, feudatory of Omura, to invite the Jesuits in Bungo to his fief, offering them a free port for ten years, an extensive tract of land, a residence for the missionaries, and other privileges. This induced the Hirado feudatory to revoke the edict which he had issued against the Jesuits, and they were preparing to take advantage of his renewed hospitality when a Portuguese merchantman entered Hirado. Its appearance convinced the local chieftain that trade could be had without the accompaniment of religion, towards which he renewed his hostility. When, however, this change of demeanour was communicated to Funai, the Jesuit leader, Torres, hastened thence to Hirado, and induced the master of the merchantman to leave the port on the ground that he could not remain in a country where they maltreated those who professed the same religion as himself. Thereafter, for some years, Hirado remained outside the pale of foreign trade. But ultimately three merchant vessels appeared in the offing and announced their willingness to put in provided that the anti-Christian ban was removed. This remonstrance proved effective. A parallel case occurred a few years later in the island of Amakusa. There a petty baron, avowedly for the purpose of attracting foreign trade, embraced Christianity and required all his vassals to follow his example. But when no Portuguese ship arrived, he apostatized; ordered his vassals to return to their old faith, and expelled the missionaries.

"In fact, the competition for the patronage of Portuguese traders was so keen that the Hirado feudatory attempted to burn several of their vessels because they frequented the territorial waters of his neighbour and rival, Sumitada. The latter became a most stalwart Christian when his wish was gratified. He set himself to eradicate idolatry throughout his fief with the strong arm, and his fierce intolerance provoked revolts which ended in the destruction of the Christian town at the newly opened free port. Sumitada, however, quickly reasserted his authority, and five years later (1567), he took a step which had far-reaching consequences, namely, the building of a church at Nagasaki, in order that Portuguese commerce might have a centre and the Christians an assured asylum. Nagasaki was then a little fishing village. In five years it grew to be a town of thirty thousand inhabitants, and Sumitada became one of the richest of the Kyushu feudatories."*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

This baron appears to have been sincere in his adoption of the foreign religion. "When in 1573, successful conflicts with neighbouring fiefs brought him an access of territory, he declared that he owed these victories to the influence of the Christian God, and shortly afterwards he proclaimed banishment for all who would not accept the foreign faith. There were then no Jesuits by his side, but immediately two hastened to join him, and 'these accompanied by a strong guard, but yet not without danger of their lives, went round causing the churches of the Gentiles, with their idols, to be thrown down to the ground, while three Japanese Christians went preaching the law of God everywhere.'" They further record that three fathers who were in the neighbouring fief "all withdrew therefrom to work in this abundant harvest, and in the space of seven months twenty thousand persons were baptized, including the bonzes of about sixty monasteries."* The Jesuit vice-provincial (Francis Cabral), relating these events, speaks with marked satisfaction of the abasement of the Buddhist priests, and adds, "That these should now come to such a humility that they throw themselves on the ground before two ragged members of the Company is one of the miracles worked by the Divine Majesty."

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

In Funai things were by no means so satisfactory. The Jesuits, as stated above, had a hospital there, which had been built at the charges of a devout Portuguese. But Francis Cabral, writing from Bungo, in 1576, said: "Down to this hour the Christians have been so abject and vile that they have shown no desire to acknowledge themselves, partly from being few in the midst of so many Gentiles, partly because the said Christianity began in the hospital where we cure the people of low condition and those suffering from contagious diseases, like the French evil and such others. Whence the Gospel came to be of such little reputation that no man of position would dare to accept it (although it seemed good and true to him) merely lest he should be confounded with this rabble (con quella plebe). And although we gave much edification with such works, the thing nevertheless was a great obstacle to the spread of the holy faith. And thus, during the twenty years we have had a residence in Funai, one gentleman became a Christian, and this after having been cured of the said evil in his house; but as soon as he was cured he afterwards thought it shame to acknowledge his Christianity in the presence of others."

This most disheartening record underwent a complete change in 1576, when the son of the Bungo feudatory, a youth of some sixteen years, and, two years later, the feudatory himself, Otomo, embraced the Christian faith. In the first Annual Letter sent to Rome after these events a striking admission is made: "It is Otomo, next to God, whom the Jesuits have to thank for their success in Japan." This appreciation looks somewhat exaggerated when placed side by side with the incidents that occurred in Sumitada's fief, as related above. Nevertheless, Otomo certainly did render powerful aid, not within his own fief alone but also through his influence elsewhere. Thus, he did not hesitate to have recourse to arms in order to obtain for the Jesuits access to the island of Amakusa, where one of the local barons, tempted originally by tradal prospects and afterwards urged by his wife, called upon his vassals to choose between conversion or exile, and issued an order that any Buddhist priests refusing to accept Christianity would have their property confiscated and their persons banished.

Practically the whole population became converts under the pressure of these edicts, and it is thus seen that Christianity owed much of its success in Kyushu to methods which recall Islam and the Inquisition. Another illustration of this is furnished by the Arima fief, which adjoined that of Omura where Sumitada ruled. The heads of these two fiefs were brothers, and thus when Sumitada embraced Christianity the Jesuits received an invitation to visit Arima at the ports of Kuchinotsu and Shimabara, where from that time Portuguese ships repaired frequently. In 1576, the Arima baron, seeing the prosperity and power which had followed the conversion of his brother Sumitada, accepted baptism and became the "Prince Andrew" of missionary records. In those records we read that "the first thing Prince Andrew did after his baptism was to convert the chief temple of his capital into a church, its revenues being assigned for the maintenance of the building and the support of the missionaries. He then took measures to have the same thing done in the other towns of his fief, and he seconded the preachers of the Gospel so well in everything else that he could flatter himself that he soon would not have one single idolater in his states." This fanatical "Prince Andrew" survived his baptism by two years only, but during that time twenty thousand converts were made in Arima. His successor, however, was a believer in Buddhism. He caused the Christian churches to be destroyed and the crosses to be thrown down; he ordered the Jesuits to quit his dominions, and he required the converts to return to Buddhism. Under this pressure about one-half of the converts apostatized, but the rest threatened to leave Kuchinotsu en masse. However this would have meant the loss of foreign trade, and as a result of this circumstance the anti-Christian edicts were radically modified.

Just at that time, also, a fortunate incident occurred. It had become the custom for a large vessel from Macao to visit Japan every year, and the advent of this ship had great importance from a commercial point of view. It chanced that she made the port of Kuchinotsu her place of call in 1578, and her presence suggested such a pleasing outcome that the feudatory embraced Christianity and allowed his vassals to do the same. By this "great ship from Macao" the Jesuit vice-general, Valegnani was a passenger. A statesman as well as a preacher, this astute politician made such a clever use of the opportunity that, in 1580, "all the city was made Christian, and the people burned their idols and destroyed forty temples, reserving some materials to build churches."

RESULTS OF THE FIRST THREE DECADES OF PROPAGANDISM

The record achieved by the Christian propagandists up to this time was distinctly satisfactory. In the Annual Letter of 1582 we find it stated that, at the close of 1581, that is to say, thirty-two years after Xavier's landing in Japan there were about 150,000 converts. Of these some 125,000 were in Kyushu; the remainder in Yamaguchi, Kyoto, and the vicinity of the latter city. As for the Jesuits in Japan, they then numbered seventy-five, but down to the year 1563 there had never been more than nine. "The harvest was certainly great in proportion to the number of sowers. But it was a harvest mainly of artificial growth, forced by despotic insistence of feudal chiefs who possessed the power of life and death over their vassals, and were influenced by a desire to attract foreign trade."

BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY

"To the Buddhist priests this movement of Christian propagandism had brought an experience hitherto almost unknown in Japan--persecution solely on account of creed. They had suffered for interfering in politics, but the cruel vehemence of the Christian fanatic may be said to have now become known for the first time to men themselves usually conspicuous for tolerance of heresy and for receptivity of instruction. They had had little previous experience of humanity in the garb of an Otomo of Bungo, who, in the words of Crasset, Svent to the chase of the bonzes as to that of wild beasts, and made it his singular pleasure to exterminate them from his states.'"*

*Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

JAPANESE EMBASSY TO EUROPE

Another important result of the coming of Valegnani to Japan was that, in 1582, an embassy sailed from Nagasaki for Europe. It consisted of four young men, representing the fiefs of Arima, Omura, and Bungo, and it is related that at Lisbon, Madrid, and Rome they were received with an elaborate show of dazzling magnificence, so that they carried back to their island home a vivid impression of the might and wealth of Western countries.

KYOTO AND CHRISTIANITY

It has already been shown that the visit to Kyoto by Xavier and Fernandez was wholly unsuccessful. Such was not the case, however, when another visit was made to the same city by Vilela, in the year 1559. This eminent missionary had been invited to Kyoto by the abbot of the celebrated Buddhist monastery of Hiei-zan, who desired to investigate the Christian doctrine. It is to be noted that, at this time, Christian propagandism in Kyushu had not yet begun to be disfigured by acts of violence. Vilela carried letters of introduction from the Bungo feudatory, but before he reached the capital the Buddhist abbot of Hiei-zan had died, and his successor did not show the same liberal spirit of inquiry. Still, Vilela was permitted to expound his doctrines in the presence of a gathering of priests in the great monastery, and afterwards the good offices of one of these bonzes, supplemented by the letter of the Bungo feudatory, procured for the Jesuit father the honour of being received by the shogun, Yoshiteru, who treated him with much consideration and assigned a house for his residence.

Vilela does not seem to have allowed himself to be influenced in any degree by the aid that he received on this occasion from his Buddhist friend, who is described as "one of the most respected men in the city." The Jesuit father seized the first opportunity to denounce Buddhism and its followers in unmeasured terms, and soon the bonzes began to intrigue with corresponding vehemence for the expulsion of the foreign propagandists. But the shogun extended his protection to Vilela, by issuing a decree which made it a capital punishment to injure the missionaries or obstruct their work. The times, however, were very troublous, so that Vilela and his fellow workers had to encounter much difficulty and no little danger. Nothing, however, damped their ardour, and five years after their arrival in Kyoto they had not only obtained many converts but had organized churches in five towns within a radius of fifty miles from the capital. Two incidents may be specially mentioned illustrating the loyal spirit with which the Japanese of that time approached controversy. Among Vilela's converts were two Buddhist priests who had been nominated officially to investigate and report upon the novel doctrines, and who, in the sequel of their investigation, openly embraced Christianity though they had originally been vehemently opposed to it. The second incident was the conversion of a petty feudatory, Takayama, whose fief lay at Takatsuki in the vicinity of the capital. He challenged Vilela to a public discussion of the merits of the two creeds, and being vanquished, he frankly acknowledged his defeat, adopted Christianity, and invited his vassals as well as his family to follow his example. His son, Yusho, became one of the most loyal supporters of Christianity in all Japan. He is the "Don Justo Ukondono" of the Jesuits' annals.

NOBUNAGA AND CHRISTIANITY

At the time of Vilela's visit to Kyoto civil war was raging. It led to the death of the shogun, Yoshiteru, and to the issue of an Imperial decree proscribing Christianity, Vilela and his two comrades were obliged to take refuge in the town of Sakai, and they remained there during three years, when they were invited to an interview with Oda Nobunaga, who, at this time, had risen almost to the pinnacle of his immense power. Had Nobunaga shown himself hostile to Christianity, the latter's fate in Japan would have been quickly sealed; but not only was he a man of wide and liberal views, but also he harboured a strong antipathy against the Buddhists, whose armed interference in politics had caused him much embarrassment. He welcomed Christianity largely as an opponent of Buddhism, and when Takayama conducted Froez from Sakai to Nobunaga's presence, the Jesuit received a cordial welcome. Thenceforth, during the fourteen remaining years of his life, Nobunaga steadily befriended the missionaries in particular and foreign visitors to Japan in general. He stood between the Jesuits and the Throne when, in reply to an appeal from Buddhist priests, the Emperor Okimachi, for the second time, issued an anti-Christian decree (1568); he granted a site for a church and a residence at Azuchi on Lake Biwa, where his new castle stood; he addressed to various powerful feudatories letters signifying a desire for the spread of Christianity; he frequently made handsome presents to the fathers, and whenever they visited him he showed himself accessible and gracious. The Jesuits said of him: "This man seems to have been chosen by God to open and prepare the way for our faith. In proportion to the intensity of his enmity to the bonzes and their sects is his good-will towards our fathers who preach the law of God, whence he has shown them so many favours that his subjects are amazed and unable to divine what he is aiming at in this. I will only say that, humanly speaking, what has above all given great credit and reputation to the fathers is the great favour Nobunaga has shown for the Company." It is not to be supposed, however, that Nobunaga's attitude towards the Jesuits signified any belief in their doctrines. In 1579, he took a step which showed plainly that policy as a statesman ranked much higher in his estimation than duty towards religion. For, in order to ensure the armed assistance of a certain feudatory, a professing Christian, Nobunaga seized the Jesuits in Kyoto, and threatened to ban their religion altogether unless they persuaded the feudatory to adopt Nobunaga's side. Nevertheless, that Christianity benefited much by his patronage there can be no dissentient opinion.

HIDEYOSHI AND CHRISTIANITY

After Nobunaga's death, in 1582, the supreme power fell into the hands of Hideyoshi, and had he chosen to exercise it, he could have easily undone the whole work hitherto achieved by the Jesuits at the cost of much effort and devotion. But, at first, Hideyoshi followed Nobunaga's example. He not only accorded a friendly audience to Father Organtino, as representative of the fathers, but also he went in person to assign to the Company a site for a church and a residence in Osaka. At this time, "many Christian converts were serving in high positions, and in 1584, the Jesuits placed it on record that 'Hideyoshi was not only not opposed to the things of God, but he even showed that he made much account of them (the fathers) and preferred them to all the sects of the bonzes. . . He is entrusting to Christians his treasures, his secrets, and his fortresses of most importance, and he shows himself well pleased that the sons of the great lords about him should adopt our customs and our law.' Two years later in Osaka he received with every mark of cordiality and favour a Jesuit mission which had come from Nagasaki seeking audience, and on that occasion his visitors recorded that he spoke of an intention of christianizing one half of Japan." Nor did he confine himself to licensing the missionaries to preach throughout all Japan: he exempted not only churches from the billeting of soldiers but also the priests themselves from local burdens.

"This was in 1586, on the eve of his great military enterprise, the invasion of Kyushu. . . He carried that difficult campaign to completion by the middle of 1587, and throughout its course he maintained a uniformly friendly demeanour toward the Jesuits. But suddenly, when on the return journey he reached Hakata in the north of the island, his policy underwent a radical metamorphosis. Five questions were by his orders propounded to the vice-provincial of the Jesuits: 'Why and by what authority he and his fellow propagandists had constrained Japanese subjects to become Christians? Why they had induced their disciples and their sectaries to overthrow temples? Why they persecuted the bonzes? Why they and other Portuguese ate animals useful to men, such as oxen and cows? Why the vice-provincial allowed merchants of his nation to buy Japanese and make slaves of them in the Indies?' To these queries Coelho, the vice-provincial, made answer that the missionaries had never themselves resorted, or incited, to violence in their propagandism, or persecuted bonzes; that if their eating of beef was considered inadvisable, they would give up the practice, and that they were powerless to prevent or restrain the outrages perpetrated by their countrymen. Hideyoshi read the vice-provincial's reply and, without comment, sent him word to retire to Hirado, assemble all his followers there, and quit the country within six months. On the next day (July 25, 1587) the following edict was published:

'Having learned from our faithful councillors that foreign priests have come into our estates, where they preach a law contrary to that of Japan, and that they have even had the audacity to destroy temples dedicated to our Kami and Hotoke; although the outrage merits the most extreme punishment, wishing nevertheless to show them mercy, we order them under pain of death to quit Japan within twenty days. During that space no harm or hurt will be done, to them. But at the expiration of that term, we order that if any of them be found in our estates, they should be seized and punished as the greatest criminals. As for the Portuguese merchants, we permit them to enter our ports, there to continue their accustomed trade, and to remain in our estates provided our affairs need this. But we forbid them to bring any foreign priests into the country, under the penalty of the confiscation of their ships and goods.'"*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

How are we to account for this seemingly rapid change of mood on Hideyoshi's part? A comparison of dates furnishes some assistance in replying to that question. The Kyushu campaign took place in 1587, and it was in 1586 that Hideyoshi commenced the construction of the colossal image of Buddha in Kyoto. The Taiko was by no means a religious man. That is amply shown by the stories told in the previous pages. But his political sagacity taught him that to continue Nobunaga's crusade against Buddhism would not be wise statesmanship, and that if the bonzes could be disarmed and diverted from military pursuits, they would become useful agents of intellectual and moral progress. His idea of setting up a gigantic idol in the capital marked his final substitution of a conciliatory programme for the fiercely destructive methods of Nobunaga. Of necessity he had, then, to reconsider his demeanour towards Christianity, and it is on record that before leaving Osaka for Kyushu he publicly stated, "I fear much that all the virtue of the European priests is merely a mask of hypocrisy and serves only to conceal pernicious designs against the empire." Then, in Kyushu, two things influenced him strongly. One was that he now saw with his own eyes what militant Christianity really meant--ruined temples, overthrown idols, and coerced converts. Such excesses had not disgraced Christian propagandism in Kyoto or in the metropolitan provinces, but in Kyushu the unsightly story was forced upon Hideyoshi's attention. The second special feature of the situation in Kyushu was that relations of an altogether exceptional character were established between Hideyoshi and Kennyo, abbot of the Shin sect. By the contrivance of that prelate, Hideyoshi's troops were enabled to follow a secret road to the stronghold of the Satsuma baron, and in return for such valuable services Hideyoshi may well have been persuaded to proscribe Christianity.

Some importance, though probably of a less degree, attaches also to the last of the five questions propounded by Hideyoshi to the vice-provincial--why the priests allowed merchants of their nation to buy Japanese subjects and carry them into slavery in the Indies. It was in Kyushu only that these abuses were perpetrated. With respect to this matter the following passage appears in the archives of the Academy of History at Madrid: "Even the Lascars and scullions of the Portuguese purchase and carry slaves away. Hence it happens that many of them die on the voyage, because they are heaped up one upon the other, and if their master fall sick (these masters are sometimes Kaffirs and the negroes of the Portuguese), the slaves are not cared for. It even often happens that the Kaffirs cannot procure the necessary food for them. I here omit the excesses committed in the lands of pagans where the Portuguese spread themselves to recruit youth and girls, and where they live in such a fashion that the pagans themselves are stupefied at it." Nevertheless, the fact that the Taiko specially exempted the Portuguese merchants from his decree of banishment indicates that he did not attach cardinal importance to their evil doings in the matter of slaves. It seems rather to have been against the Jesuits that his resentment was directed, for he did not fail to perceive that, whereas they could and did exact the utmost deference from their country's sailors and traders when the ends of Christian propagandism were served thereby, they professed themselves powerless to dissuade these same traders and sailors from outrages which would have disgraced any religion. He cannot but have concluded that if these Portuguese merchants and seamen were to be regarded as specimens of the products of Christianity, then, indeed, that creed had not much to recommend it. All these things seem amply sufficient to account for the change that manifested itself in Hideyoshi's attitude towards Christianity at the close of the Kyushu campaign.

SEQUEL OF THE EDICT OF BANISHMENT

The Jesuits, of whom it must be said that they never consulted their own safety when the cause of their faith could be advanced by self-sacrifice, paid no attention to the Taiko's edict. They did indeed assemble at Hirado to the number of 120, but when they received orders to embark at once, they decided that only those needed for service in China should leave Japan. The rest remained and continued to perform their religious duties as usual, under the protection of the converted feudatories. The latter also appear to have concluded that it was not necessary to follow Hideyoshi's injunctions strictly concerning the expulsion of the priests. It seemed, at first, as though nothing short of extermination was contemplated by the Taiko. He caused all the churches in Kyoto, Osaka, and Sakai to be pulled down, and he sent troops to raze the Christian places of worship in Kyushu. But the troops accepted gifts offered to them by the feudatories and left the churches standing, while Hideyoshi not only failed to enforce his edict, but also allowed himself in the following year, 1588, to be convinced by a Portuguese envoy that unless the missionaries were suffered to remain, oversea trade could not possibly be carried on in a peaceful and orderly manner. For the sake of that trade, Hideyoshi agreed to tolerate the Christian propagandists, and, for a time, the foreign faith continued to flourish in Kyushu and found a favourable field even in Kyoto.

At this time, in response to a message from the Jesuits, the viceroy of the Indies sent an ambassador to thank Hideyoshi for the favours he had hitherto bestowed upon the missionaries, and in the train of this nominally secular embassy came a number of fresh Jesuits to labour in the Japanese field. The ambassador was Valegnani, a man of profound tact. Acting upon the Taiko's unequivocal hints, Valegnani caused the missionaries to divest their work of all ostentatious features and to comport themselves with the utmost circumspection, so that official attention should not be attracted by any salient evidences of Christian propagandism. Indeed, at this very time, as stated above, Hideyoshi took a step which plainly showed that he valued the continuance of trade much more highly than the extirpation of Christianity. "Being assured that Portuguese merchants could not frequent Japan unless they found Christian priests there, he consented to sanction the presence of a limited number of Jesuits," though he was far too shrewd to imagine that their services could be limited to men of their own nationality, and too clever to forget that these very Portuguese, who professed to attach so much importance to religious ministrations, were the same men whose flagrant outrages the fathers declared themselves powerless to check. If any further evidence were needed of Hideyoshi's discrimination between trade and religion, it is furnished by his despatches to the viceroy of the Indies written in 1591:--

The fathers of the Company, as they are called, have come to these islands to teach another religion here; but as that of the Kami is too surely founded to be abolished, this new law can serve only to introduce into Japan a diversity of cults prejudicial to the welfare of the State. It is for this reason that, by Imperial edict, I have forbidden these foreign doctors to continue to preach their doctrine. I have even ordered them to quit Japan, and I am resolved no longer to allow any one of them to come here to spread new opinions. I nevertheless desire that trade between you and us should always be on the same footing [as before]. I shall have every care that the ways are free by sea and land: I have freed them from all pirates and brigands. The Portuguese will be able to traffic with my subjects, and I will in no wise suffer any one to do them the least wrong.

The statistics of 1595 showed that there were then in Japan 137 Jesuit fathers with 300,000 native converts, including seventeen feudal chiefs and not a few bonzes.

HIDEYOSHI'S FINAL ATTITUDE TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY

For ten years after the issue of his anti-Christian decree at Hakata, Hideyoshi maintained a tolerant demeanour. But in 1597, his forbearance was changed to a mood of uncompromising severity. Various explanations have been given of this change, but the reasons are obscure. "Up to 1593 the Portuguese had possessed a monopoly of religious propagandism and oversea commerce in Japan. The privilege was secured to them by agreement between Spain and Portugal and by a papal bull. But the Spaniards in Manila had long looked with somewhat jealous eyes on this Jesuit reservation, and when news of the anti-Christian decree of 1587 reached the Philippines, the Dominicans and Franciscans residing there were fired with zeal to enter an arena where the crown of martyrdom seemed to be the least reward within reach. The papal bull, however, demanded obedience, and to overcome that difficulty a ruse was necessary: the governor of Manila agreed to send a party of Franciscans as ambassadors to Hideyoshi. In that guise, the friars, being neither traders nor propagandists, considered that they did not violate either the treaty or the bull. It was a technical subterfuge very unworthy of the object contemplated, and the friars supplemented it by swearing to Hideyoshi that the Philippines would submit to his sway. Thus they obtained permission to visit Kyoto, Osaka, and Fushimi, but with the explicit proviso that they must not preach."*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

How far they observed the terms and the spirit of this arrangement may be gathered from the facts that "very soon they had built a church in Kyoto, consecrated it with the utmost pomp, and were preaching sermons and chaunting litanies there in flagrant defiance of Hideyoshi's veto. Presently, their number received an access of three friars who came bearing gifts from the governor of Manila, and now they not only established a convent in Osaka, but also seized a Jesuit church in Nagasaki and converted the circumspect worship hitherto conducted there by the fathers into services of the most public character. Officially checked in Nagasaki, they charged the Jesuits in Kyoto with having intrigued to impede them, and they further vaunted the courageous openness of their own ministrations as compared with the clandestine timidity of the methods which wise prudence had induced the Jesuits to adopt. Retribution would have followed quickly had not Hideyoshi's attention been engrossed by an attempt to invade China through Korea. At this stage, however, a memorable incident occurred. Driven out of her course by a storm, a great and richly laden Spanish galleon, bound for Acapulco from Manila, drifted to the coast of Tosa province, and running--or being purposely run--on a sand-bank as she was towed into port by Japanese boats, broke her back. She carried goods to the value of some six hundred thousand crowns, and certain officials urged Hideyoshi to confiscate her as derelict, conveying to him, at the same time, a detailed account of the doings of the Franciscans and their open flouting of his orders. Hideyoshi, much incensed, commanded the arrest of the Franciscans and despatched officers to Tosa to confiscate the San Felipe. The pilot of the galleon sought to intimidate these officers by showing them, on a map of the world, the vast extent of Spain's dominions, and being asked how one country had acquired such wide sway, replied,* 'Our kings begin by sending into the countries they wish to conquer missionaries who induce the people to embrace our religion, and when they have made considerable progress, troops are sent who combine with the new Christians, and then our kings have not much trouble in accomplishing the rest.'"**

*Charlevoix, referring to this incident, says, "This unfortunate statement inflicted a wound on religion which is bleeding still after a century and a half."

**Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTYRS IN JAPAN

The words of the San Felipe's master were immediately reported to Hideyoshi. They roused him to hot anger. He is reported to have cried: "What! my States are filled with traitors, and their numbers increase every day. I have proscribed the foreign doctors, but out of compassion for the age and infirmity of some among them, I have allowed their remaining in Japan. I shut my eyes to the presence of several others because I fancied them to be quiet and incapable of forming bad designs, and they are serpents I have been cherishing in my bosom. The traitors are entirely employed in making me enemies among my own subjects and perhaps in my own family. But they will learn what it is to play with me... I am not anxious for myself. So long as the breath of life remains, I defy all the powers of the earth to attack me. But I am perhaps to leave the empire to a child, and how can he maintain himself against so many foes, domestic and foreign, if I do not provide for everything incessantly?"

Then, finally, the Franciscans were arrested and condemned to have their noses and ears cut off;* to be promenaded through Kyoto, Osaka, and Sakai, and to be crucified at Nagasaki. "I have ordered these foreigners to be treated thus," Hideyoshi is recorded to have stated, "because they have come from the Philippines to Japan, calling themselves ambassadors, although they were not so; because they have remained here for long without my permission; because in defiance of my prohibition they have built churches, preached their religion, and caused disorders." These men were the first martyrs in Japan.

*The mutilation was confined to the lobe of one ear.

They numbered twenty-six, namely, six Franciscans, three Jesuits, and seventeen native Christians who were chiefly domestic servants of the Franciscans. They met their fate with noble fortitude. Hideyoshi did not stop there. He took measures to have his edict of 1587 converted into a stern reality. The governor of Nagasaki received orders to send away all the Jesuits, permitting only two or three to remain for the service of Portuguese merchants.

The Jesuits, however, were not to be deterred by personal peril. There were 125 of them in Japan at that time, and of these only eleven left Nagasaki by sea in October, 1597, though the same vessel carried a number of pretended Jesuits who were, in reality, disguised sailors. This deception was necessarily known to the local authorities; but their sympathies being with the Jesuits, they kept silence until early the following year, when, owing to a rumour that Hideyoshi himself contemplated a visit to Kyushu, they took really efficient measures to expel all the fathers. No less than 137 churches throughout Kyushu were thrown down, as well as several seminaries and residences of the fathers, and, at Nagasaki, all the Jesuits in Japan were assembled for deportation to Macao in the following year when the "great ship" was expected to visit that port. But before her arrival Hideyoshi died, and a respite was thus gained for the Jesuits.

FOREIGN POLICY OF THE TOKUGAWA FAMILY

It has been confidently stated that Tokugawa Ieyasu regarded Christian nations and Christian propagandists with distrust not less profound than that harboured by Hideyoshi. But facts are opposed to that view. Within less than three months of the Taiko's death, the Tokugawa chief had his first interview with a Christian priest. The man was a Franciscan, by name Jerome de Jesus. He had been a member of the fictitious embassy from Manila, and his story illustrates the zeal and courage that inspired the Christian fathers in those days. "Barely escaping the doom of crucifixion which overtook his companions, he had been deported from Japan to Manila at a time when death seem to be the certain penalty of remaining. But no sooner had he been landed in Manila than he took passage in a Chinese junk, and, returning to Nagasaki, made his way secretly from the far south of Japan to the province of Kii. There arrested, he was brought into the presence of Ieyasu, and his own record of what ensued is given in a letter subsequently sent to Manila:

"'When the Prince saw me he asked how I managed to escape the previous persecution. I answered him that at that date God had delivered me in order that I might go to Manila and bring back new colleagues from there--preachers of the divine law--and that I had returned from Manila to encourage the Christians, cherishing the desire to die on the cross in order to go to enjoy eternal glory like my former colleagues. On hearing these words the Emperor began to smile, whether in his quality of a pagan of the sect of Shaka which teaches that there is no future life, or whether from the thought that I was frightened at having to be put to death. Then, looking at me kindly, he said, "Be no longer afraid and no longer conceal yourself and no longer change your habit, for I wish you well; and as for the Christians who every year pass within sight of Kwanto where my domains are, when they go to Mexico with their ships, I have a keen desire for them to visit the harbours of this island, to refresh themselves there, and to take what they wish, to trade with my vassals, and to teach them how to develop silver mines; and that my intentions may be accomplished before my death, I wish you to indicate to me the means to take to realize them."

"'I answered that it was necessary that Spanish pilots should take the soundings of his harbours, so that ships might not be lost in future as the San Felipe had been, and that he should solicit this service from the governor of the Philippines. The Prince approved of my advice, and accordingly he has sent a Japanese gentleman, a native of Sakai, the bearer of this message.... It is essential to oppose no obstacle to the complete liberty offered by the Emperor to the Spaniards and to our holy order, for the preaching of the holy gospel. ... The same Prince (who is about to visit the Kwanto) invites me to accompany him to make choice of a house, and to visit the harbour which he promises to open to us; his desires in this respect are keener than I can express.'"*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

Subsequent events confirm the accuracy of the above story. Father Jerome was allowed to build the first Christian church in Yedo and to officiate there. Moreover, Ieyasu sent "three embassies in succession to the Philippines, proposing reciprocal freedom of commerce, offering to open ports in the Kwanto, and asking for competent naval architects." These architects never came, and the trade that resulted from the Tokugawa chief's overtures was paltry in comparison with the number of friars that accompanied it to Japan. It has been suggested that Ieyasu designed these Spanish monks to serve as a counterpoise to the influence of the Jesuits. For he must have known that the Franciscans opened their mission in Yedo by "declaiming with violence against the fathers of the Company of Jesus," and he must have understood that the Spanish monks assumed towards the Jesuits in Japan the same intolerent and abusive tone that the Jesuits themselves had previously assumed towards Buddhism.

ENGRAVING: ANJIN-ZUKA, NEAR YOKOSUKA, THE TOMB OF WILL ADAMS

WILL ADAMS

At about this time a Dutch merchant ship named the Liefde arrived in Japan. In 1598, a squadron of five ships sailed from Holland to exploit the sources of Portuguese commerce in the Orient, and of the five vessels only one, the Liefde, was ever heard of again. She reached Japan in the spring of 1600, with only four and twenty survivors of her original crew, numbering 110. Towed into the harbour of Funai, she was visited by Jesuits, who, on discovering her nationality, denounced her to the local authorities as a pirate. On board the Liefde, serving in the capacity of pilot major was an Englishman, Will Adams, of Gillingham in Kent. Ieyasu summoned him to Osaka, and between the rough English sailor and the Tokugawa chief there commenced a curiously friendly intercourse which was not interrupted until the death of Adams, twenty years later.

"The Englishman became master-shipbuilder to the Yedo Government; was employed as diplomatic agent when other traders from his own country and from Holland arrived in Japan, received in perpetual gift a substantial estate, and from first to last possessed the implicit confidence of the shogun. Ieyasu quickly discerned the man's honesty; perceived that whatever benefits foreign commerce might confer would be increased by encouraging competition among the foreigners, and realized that English and Dutch trade presented the wholesome feature of complete dissociation from religious propagandism. On the other hand, he showed no intolerance to either Spaniards or Portuguese. He issued (1601) two official patents sanctioning the residence of the fathers in Kyoto, Osaka, and Nagasaki; he employed Father Rodriguez as interpreter at the Court in Yedo, and, in 1603 he gave munificent succour to the Jesuits who were reduced to dire straits owing to the capture of the great ship from Macao by the Dutch and the consequent loss of several years' supplies for the mission in Japan."*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

ULTIMATE ATTITUDE OF IEYASU TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN INTERCOURSE

From what has been written above it will have been evident that each of Japan's great trio of sixteenth century statesmen--Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu--adopted originally a tolerant demeanour towards Christianity, and an emphatically favourable attitude towards foreign commerce. The causes of Hideyoshi's change of mood are tolerably clear, but it is not possible to analyse the case of Ieyasu with certainty. That the Tokugawa baron strongly patronized Buddhism might be regarded as a sufficient explanation of his ultimate hostility to the foreign faith, but cannot be reconciled with his amicable attitude at the outset. The more credible explanation is that he was guided by intelligence obtained direct from Europe. He sent thither at the end of the sixteenth century an emissary whose instructions were to observe closely the social and political conditions in the home of Christianity. The better to accomplish his purpose this envoy embraced the Christian faith, and was thus enabled to carry on his observations from within as well as from without.

It may be easily conceived that the state of affairs in Europe at that time, when recounted to Ieyasu, could scarcely fail to shock and astonish the ruler of a country where freedom of conscience may be said to have always existed. The Inquisition and the stake; wholesale aggressions in the name of the Cross; a head of the Church whose authority extended to confiscation of the realms of heretical sovereigns; religious wars, and profound fanaticism--these were the elements of the story told to Ieyasu by his returned envoy. The details could not fail to produce an evil impression. Already his own observation had disclosed to the Tokugawa chief abundant evidence of the spirit of strife engendered by Christian dogma in those times. No sooner had the Franciscans and the Dominicans arrived in Japan than a fierce quarrel broke out between them and the Jesuits--a quarrel which even community of suffering could not compose. "Not less repellent was an attempt on the part of the Spaniards to dictate to Ieyasu the expulsion of all Hollanders from Japan, and an attempt on the part of the Jesuits to dictate the expulsion of the Spaniards. The former proposal, couched almost in the form of a demand, was twice formulated, and accompanied on the second occasion by a scarcely less insulting offer, namely, that Spanish men-of-war would be sent to Japan to burn all Dutch ships found in the ports of the empire. If in the face of proposals so contumelious of his authority Ieyasu preserved a calm and dignified mein, merely replying that his country was open to all comers, and that, if other nations had quarrels among themselves, they must not take Japan for battle-ground, it is nevertheless unimaginable that he did not strongly resent such interference with his own independent foreign policy, and that he did not interpret it as foreshadowing a disturbance of the realm's peace by sectarian quarrels among Christians."*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

The repellent aspects under which Christianity thus presented itself to Ieyasu were supplemented by an act of fraud and forgery perpetrated in the interest of a Christian feudatory by a trusted official, himself a Christian. This experience persuaded the Tokugawa ruler that it was unsafe to employ Christians at his Court. He not only dismissed all those so employed, but also banished them from Yedo and forbade any feudal chief to harbour them. Another incident, not without influence, was connected with the survey of the Japanese coast by a Spanish mariner and a Franciscan friar. An envoy from New Spain (Mexico) had obtained permission for this survey, but "when the mariner (Sebastian) and the friar (Sotelo) hastened to carry out the project, Ieyasu asked Will Adams to explain this display of industry. The Englishman replied that such a proceeding would be regarded in Europe as an act of hostility, especially on the part of the Spaniards or Portuguese, whose aggressions were notorious. He added, in reply to further questions, that 'the Roman priesthood had been expelled from many parts of Germany, from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, and England, and that, although his own country preserved the pure form of the Christian faith from which Spain and Portugal had deviated, yet neither English nor Dutch considered that that fact afforded them any reason to war with, or to annex, States which were not Christian solely for the reason that they were non-Christian.'"* Hearing these things from Will Adams, Ieyasu is said to have remarked, "If the sovereigns of Europe do not tolerate these priests, I do them no wrong if I refuse to tolerate them."

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

Another incident, too complicated to describe in detail, may be summed up by saying that some Japanese Christians were discovered to have conspired for the overthrow of the Tokugawa Government by the aid of foreign troops. It was not an extensive plot, but it helped to demonstrate that the sympathy of the priests and their converts was plainly with the enemies of Tokugawa's supremacy. Ieyasu, however, abstained from extreme measures in the case of any of the foreign priests, and he might have been equally tolerant towards native Christians, also, had not the Tokugawa authority been openly defied in Yedo itself by a Franciscan father--the Sotelo mentioned above. "Then (1613) the first execution of Japanese converts took place, though the monk himself was released after a short incarceration. At that time... insignificant differences of custom sometimes induced serious misconceptions. A Christian who had violated a secular law was crucified in Nagasaki. Many of his fellow-believers kneeled around his cross and prayed for the peace of his soul. A party of converts were afterwards burnt to death in the same place for refusing to apostatize, and their Christian friends crowded to carry off portions of their bodies as holy relics. When these things were reported to Ieyasu, he said, 'Without doubt that must be a diabolic faith which persuades people not only to worship criminals condemned to death for their crimes, but also to honour those who have been burned or cut to pieces by the order of their lord.'"*

*Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

SUPPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY

The first prohibition of Christianity was issued by Ieyasu in September, 1612, and was followed by another in April, 1613; but both bore the character of warnings rather than of punitive regulations. It was on the 27th of January, 1614--that is to say, fifty-four years and five months after the landing of Xavier at Kagoshima--that an edict appeared ordering that all the foreign priests should be collected in Nagasaki preparatory to removal from Japan; that all churches should be pulled down, and that all converts should be compelled to abjure Christianity. There were then in Japan 156 ministers of Christianity, namely, 122 Jesuits, 14 Franciscans, 9 Dominicans, 4 Augustinians, and 7 secular priests. It is virtually certain that if these men had obeyed the orders of the Japanese Government by leaving the country finally, not so much as one foreigner would have suffered for his faith in Japan, except the six Franciscans executed on the "Martyrs' Mount" at Nagasaki by Hideyoshi's order, in 1597. But the missionaries did not obey. Suffering or even death counted for nothing with these men as against the possibility of saving souls. "Forty-seven of them evaded the edict, some by concealing themselves at the time of its issue, the rest by leaving their ships when the latter had passed out of sight of the shore of Japan, and returning by boats to the scene of their former labours. Moreover, in a few months, those that had actually crossed the sea re-crossed it in various disguises."* The Japanese Government had then to consider whether it would suffer its authority to be thus defied by foreign visitors or whether it would resort to extreme measures.

*Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

PERIOD SUBSEQUENT TO 1613

Throughout a period of two years immediately following the issue of the anti-Christian edict of 1614, the attention of Ieyasu, and indeed of the whole Japanese nation, was concentrated on the struggle which took place between the adherents of the Tokugawa and the supporters of Hideyori. That struggle culminated in an assault on the castle of Osaka, and fresh fuel was added to the fire of anti-Christian resentment inasmuch as many Christian converts espoused Hideyori's cause, and in one part of the field the troops of Ieyasu had to fight against a foe whose banners were emblazoned with a cross and with images of Christ and of St. James, the patron saint of Spain. Nevertheless, the Christian converts possessed the sympathy of so many of the feudal chiefs that much reluctance was shown to inflict the extreme penalty of the law on men and women whose only crime was the adoption of an alien religion. Some of the feudal chiefs, even at the risk of losing their estates, gave asylum to the converts; others falsely reported a complete absence of Christians in their dominions, and some endeavoured earnestly to protect the fanatics; while, as to the people at large, their liberal spirit is shown in the fact that five priests who were in Osaka Castle at the time of its capture were able to make their way to distant refuges without any risk of betrayal.

ENGRAVING: GREEN-ROOM OF A THEATRE (In the Middle of the Tokugawa Period)

On the other hand, there were not wanting feudatories who, judging that zeal in obeying the edict would prove a passport to official reward, acted on that conviction. Notably was this true of Hasegawa, who received the fief of Arima by way of recompense for barbarous cruelty towards the Christians. Yet it is on record that when this baron sent out a mixed force of Hizen and Satsuma troops to harry the converts, these samurai warned the Christians to flee and then reported that they were not to be found anywhere. During these events the death of Ieyasu took place (June 1, 1616), and pending the dedication of his mausoleum the anti-Christian crusade was virtually suspended.

ENGLISH AND DUTCH INTRIGUES AGAINST SPANIARDS AND PORTUGUESE

It has been frequently alleged that if the Spaniards and the Portuguese endeavoured to bring the Hollanders into bad odour, the English and the Dutch intrigued equally against the Portuguese and the Spaniards. The accusation cannot be rebutted. Cocks, the factor of the English commercial mission to Japan, has himself left it on record that, being at the Yedo Court in the fall of 1616, "I enformed the two secretaries that yf they lookt out well about these two Spanish shipps in Xaxama [Satsuma] full of men and treasure, they would fynd that they were sent off purpose by the king of Spaine, having knowledge of the death of the ould Emperour [Ieyasu], thinking som papisticall tono [daimyo] might rise and rebell and so draw all the papists to flock to them and take part, by which means they might on a sudden seaz upon som strong place and keepe it till more succors came, they not wanting money nor men for thackomplishing such a strattgin." The two vessels in question were "greate shipps arrived out of New Spaine, bound, as they said, for the Philippines, but driven into that place per contrary wynd, both shipps being full of souldiers, with great store of treasure, as it is said, above five millions of pezos." It is true that a Spanish captain sent from these vessels to pay respects to the Court in Yedo "gave it out that our shipps and the Hollanders which were at Firando [Hirado] had taken and robbed all the China junks, which was the occasion that very few or non came into Japan this yeare," and therefore Cocks was somewhat justified in saying "so in this sort I cried quittance with the Spaniards." It appears, however, that the Spaniards were not believed, whereas the Englishman could boast, "which speeches of myne wrought so far that the Emperour sent to stay them, and had not the greate shipp cut her cable in the hawse so as to escape, she had been arrested." It was this same Cocks who told a Japanese "admirall" that "My opinion was he might doe better to put it into the Emperour's mynd to make a conquest of the Manillas, and drive those small crew of Spaniards from thence."

In fact, none of the four Occidental nationalities then in Japan had any monopoly of slandering its rivals. The accusation preferred by Cocks, however, must have possessed special significance, confirming, as it did, what the pilot of the San Felipe had said twenty years previously as to the political uses to which the propagandists of Christianity were put by the King of Spain, and what Will Adams had said four years earlier as to the Imperial doctrine of Spain and Portugal that the annexation of a non-Christian country was always justifiable. The "greate shipps out of New Spaine," laden with soldiers and treasure and under orders to combine with any Christian converts willing to revolt against the Yedo Government, were concrete evidence of the truth of the Spanish sailor's revelation and of the English exile's charge. It has always to be remembered, too, that Kyushu, the headquarters of Christianity in Japan, did not owe to the Tokugawa shoguns the same degree of allegiance that it had been forced to render to Hideyoshi. A colossal campaign such as the latter had conducted against the southern island, in 1587, never commended itself to the ambition of Ieyasu or to that of his comparatively feeble successor, Hidetada. Hence, the presence of Spanish or Portuguese ships in Satsuma suggested danger of an exceptional degree.

In the very month (September, 1616) when Cocks "cried quittance with the Spaniards," a new anti-Christian edict was promulgated by Hidetada, son and successor of Ieyasu. It pronounced sentence of exile against all Christian priests, not excluding even those whose presence had been sanctioned for the purpose of ministering to the Portuguese merchants; it forbade the Japanese, under penalty of being burned alive and having all their property confiscated, to connect themselves in any way with the Christian propagandists or with their co-operators or servants, and above all, to show them any hospitality. The same penalties were extended to women and children, and to the five neighbours on both sides of a convert's abode, unless these became informers. Every feudal chief was forbidden to keep Christians in his service, and the edict was promulgated with more than usual severity, although its enforcement was deferred until the next year on account of the obsequies of Ieyasu. This edict of 1616 differed from that issued by Ieyasu in 1614, since the latter did not explicitly prescribe the death-penalty for converts refusing to apostatize. But both agreed in indicating expulsion as the sole manner of dealing with the foreign priests. It, is also noteworthy that, just as the edict of Ieyasu was immediately preceded by statements from Will Adams about the claim of Spain and Portugal to absorb all non-Christian countries, so the edict of Hidetada had for preface Cock's attribution of aggressive designs to the Spanish ships at Kagoshima in conjunction with Christian converts. Not without justice, therefore, have the English been charged with some share of responsibility for the terrible things that ultimately befell the propagandists and the professors of Christianity in Japan. As for the shogun, Hidetada, and his advisers, it is probable that they did not foresee much occasion for actual recourse to violence. They knew that a great majority of the converts had joined the Christian Church at the instance, or by the command, of their local rulers, and nothing can have seemed less likely than that a creed thus lightly embraced would be adhered to in defiance of torture and death. The foreign propagandists also might have escaped all peril by obeying the official edict and leaving Japan. They suffered because they defied the laws of the land.

Some fifty of them happened to be in Nagasaki at the time of Hidetada's edict. Several of these were apprehended and deported, but a number returned almost immediately. This happened under the jurisdiction of Omura, who had been specially charged with the duty of sending away the bateren (padres). He seems to have concluded that a striking example must be furnished, and he therefore ordered the seizure and decapitation of two fathers, De l'Assumpcion and Machado. The result completely falsified his calculations, for so far from proving a deterrent, the fate of the two fathers appealed widely to the people's sense of heroism. Multitudes flocked to the grave in which the two coffins were buried. The sick were carried thither to be restored to health, and the Christian converts derived new courage from the example of these martyrs. Numerous conversions and numerous returns of apostates took place everywhere.

While this enthusiasm was at its height, Navarette, vice-provincial of the Dominicans, and Ayala, vice-provincial of the Augustins, emerged from hiding, and robed in their full canonicals, commenced an open propaganda, heralding their approach by a letter addressed to Omura and couched in the most defiant terms. Thus challenged, Omura was obliged to act promptly, especially as Navarette declared that he (Navarette) did not recognize the Emperor of Japan but only the Emperor of Heaven. The two fanatics were seized, conveyed secretly to the island of Takashima, and there decapitated; their coffins being weighted with big stones and sunk in the sea, so as to prevent a repetition of the scenes witnessed at the tomb of the fathers mentioned above. Thereupon, the newly elected superior of the Dominicans at once sent three of his priests to preach in Omura's territories, and two of them, having been seized, were cast into prison where they remained for five years. Even more directly defiant was the attitude of the next martyred priest, an old Franciscan monk, Juan de Santa Martha. He had for three years suffered all the horrors of a medieval Japanese prison, yet when it was proposed to release him and deport him to New Spain, his answer was that, if released, he would stay in Japan and preach there. He laid his head on the block in August, 1618.

Throughout the next four years, however, no other foreign missionary was capitally punished in Japan, though many arrived and continued their propagandism. During that interval, also, there occurred another incident calculated to fix upon the Christians still deeper suspicion of political designs. In a Portuguese ship, captured by the Dutch, a letter was found instigating Japanese converts to revolt, and promising that, when the number of disaffected became sufficient, men-of-war would be sent from Portugal to aid them. Another factor tending to invest the converts with political potentialities was the writing of pamphlets by apostates, attributing the zeal of foreign propagandists solely to traitorous motives. Further, the Spanish and Portuguese propagandists were indicted in a despatch addressed to the second Tokugawa shogun, in 1620, by the admiral in command of the British and Dutch fleet of defence, then cruising in Oriental waters. The admiral unreservedly charged the friars with treacherous machinations, and warned the shogun against the aggressive designs of Philip of Spain.

This cumulative evidence dispelled the last doubts of the Japanese, and a time of sharp suffering ensued for the fathers and their converts. There were many shocking episodes. Among them may be mentioned the case of Zufliga, son of the marquis of Villamanrica. He visited Japan as a Dominican in 1618, but the governor of Nagasaki persuaded him to withdraw. Yielding for the moment, he returned two years later, accompanied by Father Flores. They travelled in a vessel commanded by a Japanese Christian, and off Formosa she was overhauled by an English warship, which took off the two priests and handed them over to the Dutch at Hirado. There they were tortured and held in prison for sixteen months, when an armed attempt made by some Japanese Christians to rescue them precipitated their fate. By order from Yedo, Zuniga, Flores, and the Japanese master of the vessel which had carried them, were roasted to death in Nagasaki on August 19, 1622. Thus the measures adopted against the missionaries are seen to have gradually increased in severity. The first two fathers put to death, De l'Assumpcion and Machado, were beheaded in 1617, not by the common executioner but by one of the principal officers of the daimyo. The next two, Navarette and Ayala, were decapitated by the executioner. Then, in 1618, Juan de Santa Martha was executed like a common criminal, his body being dismembered and his head exposed. Finally, in 1622, Zuniga and Flores were burned alive.

The same year was marked by the "great martyrdom" at Nagasaki, when nine foreign priests went to the stake together with nineteen Japanese converts. Apprehension of a foreign invasion seems to have greatly troubled the shogun at this time. He had sent an envoy to Europe who, after seven years abroad, returned on the eve of the "great martyrdom," and made a report thoroughly unfavourable to Christianity. Hidetada therefore refused to give audience to the Philippine embassy in 1624, and ordered that all Spaniards should be deported from Japan. It was further decreed that no Japanese Christians should thenceforth be allowed to go to sea in search of commerce, and that although non-Christians or men who had apostatized might travel freely, they must not visit the Philippines.

Thus ended all intercourse between Japan and Spain. The two countries had been on friendly terms for thirty-two years, and during that time a widespread conviction that Christianity was an instrument of Spanish aggression had been engendered. Iemitsu, son of Hidetada, now ruled in Yedo, though Hidetada himself remained "the power behind the throne." The year (1623) of the former's accession to the shogunate had seen the re-issue of anti-Christian decrees and the martyrdom of some five hundred Christians within the Tokugawa domains, whither the tide of persecution now flowed for the first time. From that period onwards official attempts to eradicate Christianity in Japan were unceasing. Conspicuously active in this cause were two governors of Nagasaki, by name Mizuno and Takenaka, and the feudal chief of Shimabara, by name Matsukura. To this last is to be credited the terrible device of throwing converts into the solfataras at Unzen, and under him, also, the punishment of the "fosse" was resorted to. It consisted in suspension by the feet, head downwards in a pit until death ensued. By many this latter torture was heroically endured to the end, but in the case of a few the pains proved unendurable.

It is on record that the menace of a Spanish invasion seemed so imminent to Matsukura and Takenaka that they proposed an attack on the Philippines so as to deprive the Spaniards of their base in the East. This bold measure failed to obtain approval in Yedo. In proportion as the Christian converts proved invincible, the severity of the repressive measures increased. There are no accurate statistics showing the number of victims. Some annalists allege that two hundred and eighty thousand perished up to the year 1635, but that figure is probably exaggerated, for the converts do not seem to have aggregated more than three hundred thousand at any time, and it is probable that a majority of these, having embraced the alien creed for light reasons, discarded it readily under menace of destruction. "Every opportunity was given for apostatizing and for escaping death. Immunity could be secured by pointing out a fellow convert, and when it is observed that among the seven or eight feudatories who embraced Christianity only two or three died in that faith, we must conclude that not a few cases of recanting occurred among the vassals. Remarkable fortitude, however, is said to have been displayed." Caron, one of the Dutch traders of Hirado, writing in 1636, says:

At first the believers in Christ were only beheaded and afterwards attached to a cross, which was considered as a sufficiently heavy punishment. But when many of them were seen to die with emotions of joy and pleasure, some even to go singing to the place of execution; and when although thirty and sometimes one hundred were put to death at a time, and it was found that their numbers did not appear to diminish, it was then determined to use every exertion to change their joy into grief and their songs into tears and groans of misery. To effect this they were tied to stakes and burned alive; were broiled on wooden gridirons, and thousands were thus wretchedly destroyed. But as the number of Christians was not perceptibly lessened by these cruel punishments, they became tired of putting them to death, and attempts were then made to make the Christians abandon their faith by the infliction of the most dreadful torments which the most diabolical invention could suggest. The Japanese Christians, however, endured these persecutions with a great deal of steadiness and courage; very few, in comparison with those who remained steadfast in the faith, were the number of those who fainted under the trials and abjured their religion. It is true that these people possess, on such occasions, a stoicism and an intrepidity of which no examples are to be met with in the bulk of other nations. Neither men nor women are afraid of death. Yet an uncommon steadfastness in the faith must, at the same time, be requisite to continue in these trying circumstances.

The intrepidity of the native converts was rivalled by the courage of their foreign teachers. Again and again these latter defied the Japanese authorities by visiting Japan--not for the first time but occasionally even after having been deported. Contrary to the orders of the governors of Macao and Manila, nay of the King of Spain himself, the priests arrived, year after year, with the certainty of being apprehended and sent to the stake after brief periods of propagandism. In 1626, when the campaign of persecution was at its height, more than three thousand converts were baptized by these brave priests, of whom none is known to have escaped death except those that apostatized under torture, and they were very few, although not only could life be saved by abandoning the faith but also ample allowances of money could be obtained from the authorities. Anyone denouncing a propagandist received large reward, and the people were required to prove their orthodoxy by trampling upon a picture of Christ.

CONTINUATION OF THE FEUDS BETWEEN THE DUTCH AND THE PORTUGUESE

While the above events were in progress, the disputes between the Dutch, the Portuguese, and the Spaniards went on without cessation. In 1636, the Dutch discovered in a captured Portuguese vessel a report written by the governor of Macao, describing a festival which had just been held there in honour of Vieyra, who had been martyred in Japan. The Dutch transmitted this document to the Japanese "in order that his Majesty may see more clearly what great honour the Portuguese pay to those he had forbidden his realm as traitors to the State and to his crown." It does not appear that this accusation added much to the resentment and distrust against the Portuguese. At any rate, the Bakufu in Yedo took no step distinctly hostile to Portuguese laymen until the following year (1637), when an edict was issued forbidding "any foreigners to travel in the empire lest Portuguese with passports bearing Dutch names might enter."

THE SHIMABARA REVOLT

At the close of 1637, there occurred a rebellion, historically known as the "Christian Revolt of Shimabara," which put an end to Japan's foreign intercourse for over two hundred years. The Gulf of Nagasaki is bounded on the west by the island of Amakusa and by the promontory of Shimabara. In the early years of Jesuit propagandism in Japan, Shimabara and Amakusa had been the two most thoroughly Christianized regions, and in later days they were naturally the scene of the severest persecutions. Nevertheless, the people might have suffered in silence, as did their fellow believers elsewhere, had they not been taxed beyond endurance to supply funds for an extravagant feudatory. Japanese annalists, however, relegate the taxation grievance to an altogether secondary place, and attribute the revolt solely to the instigation of five samurai who led a roving life to avoid persecution for their adherence to Christianity. Whichever version be correct, it is certain that the outbreak attracted all the Christians from the surrounding regions, and was officially regarded as a Christian rising. The Amakusa insurgents passed over from that island to Shimabara, and on the 27th of January, 1638, the whole body--numbering, according to some authorities, twenty thousand fighting men with thirteen thousand women and children; according to others, little more than one-half of these figures--took possession of the dilapidated castle of Kara, which stood on a plateau with three sides descending one hundred feet perpendicularly to the sea and with a swamp on the fourth side.

The insurgents fought under flags inscribed with red crosses and their battle cries were "Jesus," "Maria," and "St. Iago." They defended the castle successfully against repeated assaults until the 12th of April, when, their provisions and their ammunition alike being exhausted, they were overwhelmed and put to the sword, with the exception of 105 prisoners. During this siege the Dutch gave practical proof of their enmity to the Christianity of the Spaniards and Portuguese. For, the guns in the possession of the besiegers being too light to accomplish anything effective, application was made to Koeckebacker, the Dutch factor at Hirado, to lend ships carrying heavier metal. He complied by despatching the De Ryp, and her twenty guns threw 426 shots into the castle in fifteen days. There has been handed down a letter carried by an arrow from the castle to the besiegers. It was not an appeal for mercy but a simple enumeration of reasons:--

"For the sake of our people we have now resorted to this castle. You will no doubt think that we have done this with the hope of taking lands and houses. Such is by no means the case. It is simply because Christianity is not tolerated as a distinct sect, which is well known to you. Frequent prohibitions have been published by the shogun, to our great distress. Some among us there are who consider the hope of future life as of the highest importance. For these there is no escape. Because they will not change their religion they incur various kinds of severe punishments, being inhumanly subjected to shame and extensive suffering, till at last for their devotion to the Lord of Heaven, they are tortured to death. Others, even men of resolution, solicitous for the sensitive body and dreading the torture, have, while hiding their grief, obeyed the royal will and recanted. Things continuing in this state, all the people have united in an uprising in an unaccountable and miraculous manner. Should we continue to live as heretofore and the above laws not be repealed, we must incur all sorts of punishments hard to be endured; we must, our bodies being weak and sensitive, sin against the infinite Lord of Heaven and from solicitude for our brief lives incur the loss of what we highly esteem. These things fill us with grief beyond endurance. Hence we are in our present condition. It is not the result of a corrupt doctrine."

It seems probable that of the remaining Japanese Christians the great bulk perished at the massacre of Kara. Thenceforth there were few martyrs, and though Christianity was not entirely extirpated in Japan, it survived only in remote places and by stealth.

ENGRAVING: NANBAN BELL

ENGRAVING: THE "KAIYO KWAN," THE FIRST WARSHIP OF JAPAN (Built in Holland for the Tokugawa Feudal Government)

XXXVIII. THE TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE

THE Tokugawa family traced its descent from Nitta Yoshishige of the Minamoto sept (the Seiwa Genji) who flourished at the beginning of the thirteenth century. His son's place of residence was at the village of Tokugawa in Kotsuke province: hence the name, Tokugawa. After a few generations, Chikauji, the then representative of the family, had to fly to the village of Matsudaira in Mikawa province, taking the name of Matsudaira. Gradually the family acquired possession of about one-half of Mikawa province, and in the seventh generation from Chikauji, the head of the house, Hirotada, crossing swords with Oda Nobuhide, father of Nobunaga, sought succour from the Imagawa family, to which he sent his son, Ieyasu, with fifty other young samurai as hostages. This was in 1547, Ieyasu being then in his fifth year.

On the way from Okazaki, which was the stronghold of Hirotada, the party fell into the hands of Nobuhide's officers, and Ieyasu was confined in a temple where he remained until 1559, when he obtained permission to return to Okazaki, being then a vassal of the Imagawa family. But when (1569) the Imagawa suffered defeat in the battle of Okehazama, at the hands of Oda Nobunaga, Ieyasu allied himself with the latter. In 1570, he removed to Hamamatsu, having subjugated the provinces of Mikawa and Totomi. He was forty years old at the time of Nobunaga's murder, and it has been shown above that he espoused the cause of the Oda family in the campaign of Komak-yama. At forty-nine he became master of the Kwanto and was in his fifty-sixth year when Hideyoshi died. Ieyasu had nine sons: (1) Nobuyasu; (2) Hideyasu (daimyo of Echizen); (3) Hidetada (second shoguri); (4) Tadayoshi (daimyo of Kiyosu); (5) Nobuyoshi (daimyo of Mito); (6) Tadateru (daimyo of Echigo); (7) Yoshinao (daimyo of Owari); (8) Yorinobu (daimyo of Kii), and (9) Yorifusa (daimyo of Mito). He had also three daughters; the first married to Okudaira Masanobu; the second to Ikeda Terumasa, and the third to Asano Nagaakira.

EVENTS IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO THE BATTLE OF SEKIGAHARA

The political complications that followed the death of the Taiko are extremely difficult to unravel, and the result is not commensurate with the trouble. Several annalists have sought to prove that Ieyasu strenuously endeavoured to observe faithfully the oath of loyalty made by him to Hideyoshi on the latter's death-bed. They claim for him that until his hands were forced he steadfastly and faithfully worked in the interests of Hideyoshi. But his acts do not lend themselves to any such interpretation. The best that can be said of him is that he believed himself to have been entrusted by the Taiko with discretionary power to determine the expediency of Hideyori's succession, and that he exercised that power in the interests of the Tokugawa family, not of the Toyotomi.

Circumstances helped him as they do generally help great men. From the time of the birth of the lady Yodo's second son, the official world in Kyoto had been divided into two factions. The Hidetsugu catastrophe accentuated the lines of division, and the Korean campaign had a similar effect by affording a field for bitter rivalry between the forces of Konishi Yukinaga, who belonged to the Yodo faction, and Kato Kiyomasa, who was a protege of Hideyoshi's wife, Yae. Further fuel was added to this fire of antagonism when the order went forth that the army should leave Korea, for the Kato faction protested against surrendering all the fruits of the campaign without any tangible recompense, and the Konishi party insisted that the Taiko's dying words must be obeyed implicitly. In this dispute, Ishida Katsushige, the chief actor in the Hidetsugu tragedy, took a prominent part. For, when in their capacity as belonging to the Board of Five Administrators, Ishida and Asano Nagamasa were sent to Kyushu to superintend the evacuation of the Korean peninsula, they, too, fell into a controversy on the same subject. Ieyasu stood aloof from both parties. His policy was to let the feud develop and to step in himself at the supreme moment.

On the other hand, it was the aim of Ishida Katsushige to involve the Tokugawa chief, thus compassing his downfall and opening an avenue for the ascension of Ishida himself to the place of dictator. Allied with Ishida in this plot was his colleague on the Board of Five Administrators, Masuda Nagamori. Their method was to create enmity between Ieyasu and Maeda Toshiiye, to whom the Taiko had entrusted the guardianship of Hideyori and of the Osaka Castle. This design was barely thwarted by the intervention of Hosokawa Tadaoki (ancestor of the present Marquis Hosokawa). Ieyasu was well informed as to Ishida's schemes on two other occasions; the first immediately before, the second just after, the death of the Taiko. In each case rumours of an armed outbreak were suddenly circulated in Fushimi for the purpose of creating confusion such as might furnish an opportunity to strike suddenly at Ieyasu. These essays failed in both instances, and the Tokugawa chief, instead of retaliating by direct impeachment of Ishida, applied himself to cementing close relations with certain great daimyo by matrimonial alliances. Such unions had been implicitly interdicted by the Taiko, and the procedure of Ieyasu elicited a written protest from the boards of the Five Senior Ministers and the Five Administrators. They threatened Ieyasu with dismissal from the former board unless he furnished a satisfactory explanation. This he declined to do and for some time a very strained situation existed in Kyoto, an armed struggle being ultimately averted by the good offices of the Three Middle Ministers.

It was evident, however, that the circumstances had become critical, and it was further evident that, as long as Ishida Katsushige's intrigues continued, a catastrophe might at any moment be precipitated. Sensible of these things, a party of loyal men, spoken of in history as the "seven generals"--Ikeda Terumasa (ancestor of the present Marquis Ikeda); Kato Kiyomasa; Kuroda Nagamasa (son of Kuroda Yoshitaka, and ancestor of the present Marquis Kuroda); Fukushima Masanori, Asano Yukinaga (son of Asano Nagamasa and ancestor of the present Marquis Asano); Hosokawa Tadaoki, and Kato Yoshiaki (ancestor of the present Viscount Kato)--vowed to take Ishida's life, while he was still in Osaka Castle, whither he had gone (1599) to attend the death-bed of his friend, Maeda Toshiiye. Ishida, finding himself powerless to resist such a combination after the death of Maeda, took an extraordinary step; he appealed to the protection of Ieyasu--that is to say, to the protection of the very man against whom all his plots had been directed. And Ieyasu protected him.

We are here confronted by a riddle which has never been clearly interpreted. Why did Ishida seek asylum from Ieyasu whom he had persistently intrigued to overthrow, and why did Ieyasu, having full knowledge of these intrigues, grant asylum? Possibly an answer to the former question can be furnished by the fact that Ishida was in sore straits. Attending Maeda Toshiiye's death-bed, he had seen the partisans of the deceased baron transfer their allegiance to Ieyasu through the intervention of Hosokawa Tadaoki, and he had learned that his own life was immediately threatened by the seven generals. Even if he succeeded (which was very problematical) in escaping from Osaka to his own castle of Sawa-yama, in Omi province, the respite could have been but brief and such a step would have been equivalent to abandoning the political arena. Only a very strong arm could save him, and with consummate insight he may have appreciated the Tokugawa chief's unreadiness to precipitate a crucial struggle by consenting to his death.

But what is to be said of Ieyasu? Unwilling to admit that his astuteness could ever have been at fault, some historians allege that the Tokugawa chief saved Ishida's life with the deliberate purpose of letting him discredit himself and his partisans by continued intrigues. These annalists allege, in fact, that Ieyasu, acting on the advice of Honda Masanobu, by whose profound shrewdness he was largely guided, saved the life of Ishida in order that the latter's subsequent intrigues might furnish a pretext for destroying Hideyori. That, however, is scarcely conceivable, for Ishida had many powerful confederates, and the direct outcome of the leniency shown by Ieyasu on that occasion was an armed struggle from which he barely emerged victorious. The truth seems to be that, for all his profound wisdom, Ieyasu erred in this instance. Ishida Kotsushige outwitted him. For, during the very days of his asylum in Fushimi, under the protection of Ieyasu, Ishida opened secret communication with Uesugi Kagekatsu and invited him to strike at the Tokugawa. Uesugi consented. It must be observed that the character of Ishida has been portrayed for posterity mainly by historians who were under Tokugawa influence. Modern and impartial annalists are by no means so condemnatory in their judgment of the man. In whatever arts of deception Ishida excelled, Ieyasu was at least his equal; while in the matter of loyalty to the Toyotomi family, Ishida's conduct compares favourably with that of the Tokugawa leader; and if we look at the men who attached themselves to Ishida's cause and fought by his side, we are obliged to admit that he must have been highly esteemed by his contemporaries, or, at any rate, that they recognized in him the champion of Hideyori, at whose father's hands they had received such benefits.

ORGANIZATION OF THE JAPANESE EMPIRE AT THE CLOSE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

The realm of Japan was then held by 214 feudatories, each having an annual income of at least 10,000 koku (omitting minor landowners). These 214 estates yielded to their holders a total income of nearly nineteen million koku, and of that aggregate the domains of the five noblemen forming the Board of Senior Statesmen constituted one-third. Tokugawa Ieyasu was the wealthiest. His domains in the eight provinces forming the Kwanto yielded an income of 2,557,000 koku. Next on the list came Mori Terumoto with 2,205,000 koku, and Uesugi Kagekatsu with 1,200,000 koku. The latter two were partisans of Ishida. But direct communication between their forces was difficult, for while the Mori domains covered the nine provinces on the extreme west of the main island, Uesugi's lay on the north of the Kwanto, whence they stretched to the shore of the Japan Sea. Fourth and fifth on the Board of Senior Statesmen were Maeda Toshiiye, whose fief (835,000 koku) occupied Kaga and Etchu; and Ukita Hideiye (574,000 koku), whose castle stood at Oka-yama, in Bizen. All these, except Maeda embraced the anti-Tokugawa cause of Ishida Katsushige, and it thus becomes easy to understand the desire of Ishida to win over Maeda Toshinaga, son of Toshiiye, to his camp. On the side of Ieyasu's foes were also marshalled Shimazu Yoshihisa, feudal chief of Satsuma (700,000 koku); Satake Yoshinobu of Hitachi province (545,700 koku); Konishi Yukinaga in Higo (200,000 koku), who was counted one of the greatest captains of the era, and, nominally, Kohayakawa Hideaki in Chikuzen (522,500 koku). With Ieyasu were the powerful daimyo: Date Masamune of Sendai (580,000 koku); Kato Kiyomasa of Kumamoto (250,000 koku); Hosokawa Tadaoki of Tango (230,000 koku); Ikeda Terumasa of Mikawa (152,000 koku), and Kuroda Nagamasa of Chikuzen (250,000 koku). This analysis omits minor names.

BATTLE OF SEKIGAHARA

The plan of campaign formed by Ishida and his confederates was that Uesugi and Satake should attack the Kwanto from the north and the east simultaneously, while Mori and Ukita should move against Fushimi and occupy Kyoto. In May, 1600, Ieyasu went through the form of requiring Uesugi to repair to Kyoto and explain his obviously disaffected preparations. The reply sent by Uesugi was defiant. Therefore, the Tokugawa chief proceeded to mobilize his own and his allies' forces. He seems to have clearly foreseen that if he himself moved eastward to Yedo, Momo-yama would be assaulted in his absence. But it being necessary to simulate trust in Mori and Ukita, then nominally his supporters, he placed in Momo-yama Castle a garrison of only two thousand men under his old and staunch friend, Torii Mototada. Ieyasu planned that Uesugi should be attacked simultaneously from five directions; namely from Sendai by Date; from Kaga by Maeda; from Dewa by Mogami; from Echigo by Hori, and from Hitachi by Satake. But among these five armies that of Satake declared for Ishida, while those of Maeda and Hori were constrained to adopt a defensive attitude by the menace of hostile barons in their vicinity, and thus it fell out that Date and Mogami alone operated effectively in the cause of Ieyasu.

The Tokugawa chief himself lost no time in putting his troops in motion for Yedo, where, at the head of some sixty thousand men, he arrived in August, 1600, his second in command being his third son, Hidetada. Thence he pushed rapidly northward with the intention of attacking Uesugi. But at Oyama in Shimotsuke news reached him that Ishida and his partisans had drawn the sword in the west, and had seized Osaka, together with the wives and families of several of the captains who were with Ieyasu's army. A council was immediately held and these captains were given the option of continuing to serve under Ieyasu or retiring to join the western army and thus ensuring the safety of their own families. They chose the former, and the council further decided that, leaving Date and Mogami to deal with Uesugi and Satake, and posting for the same purpose at Utsunomiya, Hideyasu, second son of Ieyasu, the main army should countermarch to meet the western forces at some point remote from Yedo.

The Tokugawa battalions, following two routes--the Tokaido and the Nakasendo--made rapid progress westward, and on September 21st, the van of the division under Fukushima and Ikeda reached Kiyosu. But the Nakasendo column of thirty-eight thousand men under Hidetada encountered such desperate resistance before the castle of Ueda, at the hands of Sanada Masayuki, that it did not reach Sekigahara until the great battle was over. Meanwhile, the western army had pushed steadily eastward. Its first exploit was to capture and burn the Momo-yama castle, which was splendidly defended by the veteran Torii Mototada, then in his sixty-second year. With a garrison of only two thousand men he held at bay during eleven days an investing force of forty thousand. The torch was set to the castle on the 8th of September by traitors in the garrison, and Mototada committed suicide. Thereafter, the van of the western army advanced to Gifu along the Nakasendo, and the main body, making a detour through Ise, ultimately pushed forward into Mino.

With this army were no less than forty-three generals of renown, and the number of feudal barons, great and small, who sent troops to swell its ranks was thirty-one. Undoubtedly these barons were partially influenced by the conception generally prevalent that the fortunes of the two great families of Toyotomi and Tokugawa depended on the issue of this struggle. But it must also be admitted that had Ishida Katsushige been as black as the Tokugawa historians paint him, he could never have served for the central figure of such an array. He is seen inciting the besiegers of Momo-yama Castle to their supreme and successful effort. He is seen winning over to the Toyotomi cause baron after baron. He is seen leading the advance of the western army's van. And he is seen fighting to the end in the great battle which closed the campaign. Some heroic qualities must have accompanied his gift of statesmanship. The nominal leader of the western army, which mustered 128,000 strong, was Mori Terumoto, and under him were ranged Ukita Hideiye, Mori Hidemoto, Shimazu Yoshihiro, Konishi Yukinaga, and many other captains of repute. Under the Tokugawa banners there marched 75,000 men, their van led by Ii Naomasa and Honda Tadakatsu.

On October 21, 1600, the great battle of Sekigahara was fought. The strategy on the side of the western forces was excellent. Their units were disposed along a crescent-shaped line recessed from the enemy, so that an attacking army, unless its numerical strength was greatly superior, had to incur the risk of being enveloped from both flanks--a risk much accentuated by the fact that these flanking troops occupied high ground. But on the side of the western army there was a feature of weakness which no strategy could remove: all the battalions constituting the right wing were pledged to espouse the cause of Ieyasu at the crisis of the struggle. There were six of these battalions, large or small, and they were commanded by Akakura, Ogawa, Kuchiki, Wakizaka, Kohayakawa, and Kikkawa. Thus, not only were the eastern troops able to deliver their attack in full force against the centre and left of their foes, but also the latter were exposed to the most demoralizing of all eventualities, treachery.

After a fierce fight the western army was completely defeated. Some accounts put its losses at 35,000 men; others, with greater probability, estimating that only 100,000 men were actually engaged on both sides--namely, 60,000 on the Tokugawa side, and 40,000 on the Toyotomi--conclude that the losses were 6000 and 9000, respectively. Shimazu of Satsuma, at the head of a handful of samurai, cut his way through the lines of Ieyasu, and reaching Osaka, embarked hastily for Kyushu. Ishida Katsushige lay concealed in a cave for a few days, but was ultimately seized and beheaded, in company with Konishi Yukinaga and Ankokuji Ekei, at the execution ground in Kyoto. This one battle ended the struggle: there was no rally. Punishment followed quickly for the feudatories who had fought against the Tokugawa. Thus Mori Terumoto's domain, originally covering eight provinces and yielding a revenue of 1,205,000 koku, was reduced to the two provinces of Suwo and Nagato, yielding 300,000 koku. The three provinces of Ukita Hideiye were entirely forfeited, and he himself was banished to the island Hachijoshima. Oda Hidenobu, grandson of Nobunaga, Masuda Nagamori, and Sanada Masayuki, with his son, were ordered to take the tonsure and retire to the monastery of Koya-san. The fief of Uesugi Kagekatsu was reduced from 1,200,000 koku in Aizu to 300,000 koku in Yonezawa; and the 800,000 koku of the Satake family in Hitachi were exchanged for 200,000 koku in Akita. Only the Shimazu family of Satsuma remained without loss. Secured by inaccessibility, it continued to hold the provinces of Satsuma, Osumi, and Hyuga, with a revenue of 700,000 koku.

REDISTRIBUTION OF THE FIEFS

These measures represented only a fraction of the readjustments then effected. Ieyasu, following the example, set on a small scale by the Taiko, parcelled out the country in such a manner as to provide security against future trouble. Dividing the feudatories into hereditary vassals (fudai no kerai) and exterior nobles (tozama), he assigned to the former small but greatly increased estates situated so as to command the main highways as well as the great cities of central Japan, and he located the exterior nobles--many of them with largely reduced domains--in districts remote not only from Yedo and Kyoto but also from each other, wherever such method of distribution was possible. Moreover, in the most important places--as Osaka, Fushimi, Sakai, Nagasaki, Yamada (in Ise), and Sado (the gold mines), there were appointed administrators (bugyo), direct nominees of the Tokugawa; while Kyoto was put under the sway of a deputy of the shogun (shoshidai). Again, although the tozama daimyo received tolerably munificent treatment in the matter of estates, their resources were seriously crippled by the imposition of costly public works. These works consisted mainly of restoring dilapidated castles or building new ones on a scale so colossal as to be exceeded by only the stronghold at Osaka. It is recorded that when Fukushima Masanori, lord of Kiyosu in Owari, complained of the crippling effects of these severe requisitions, Kato Kiyomasa told him that there was no alternative except to retire to his castle and defy Yedo. The most costly of the edifices that came into existence in these circumstances was the castle of Nagoya, which is still one of the wonders of Japan. Twenty great barons took part in erecting it; the leading artists of the time were engaged in its interior decoration, and the roof of its donjon was crowned with, two gold dolphins, measuring nearly nine feet in height.

IEYASU BECOMES SHOGUN

On the 28th of March, 1603, the Emperor nominated Ieyasu to be minister of the Right and sei-i tai-shogun, presenting to him at the same time the conventional ox-chariot and military baton. Nine days later, the Tokugawa chief repaired to the palace to return thanks for these honours. The Emperor with his own hands gave him the drinking-cup and expressed profound gratification that through his military skill the wars which had convulsed the nation were ended, and the foundations of the empire's peace securely laid. Ieyasu was then in his sixty-second year. In the following May, Hideyori was made nai-daijin, and in the same month a marriage was contracted between him, then in his eleventh year, and Tenju-in, the seven-year-old daughter of Hidetada, son and successor of Ieyasu.

YEDO AND KYOTO

Ieyasu now took up his residence at Momo-yama Castle and Hidetada was ordered to live in Yedo. But the former made it a custom to go eastward every autumn on the pretext of enjoying the sport of falconry, and to remain in Yedo until the next spring. In February, 1605, the Tokugawa chief's return to Kyoto from the Kwanto capital was made the occasion of a great military display. Both Ieyasu and Hidetada travelled at the same time with a following of 170,000 soldiers, who were encamped outside the city whence they marched in, ten thousand daily, during seventeen consecutive days. This martial parade is said to have produced a great effect upon the nobles of the Kinai and the western provinces. But Ieyasu did not long retain the office of shogun. In 1605, he conveyed to the Imperial Court his desire to be relieved of military functions, in favour of his son Hidetada, and the Emperor at once consented, so that Hidetada succeeded to all the offices of his father, and Ieyasu retired to the castle of Sumpu, the capital of Suruga. His income was thenceforth reduced to 120,000 koku annually, derived from estates in the provinces of Mino, Ise, and Omi. But this retirement was in form rather than in fact. All administrative affairs, great or small, were managed in Sumpu, the shogun in Yedo exercising merely the power of sanction. Ieyasu made, frequent journeys to Yedo under the pretext of hawking but in reality for government purposes.

THE YEDO BAKUFU

It was on the 30th of August, 1590, that Ieyasu made his first formal entry into Yedo from Sumpu. Yedo Castle had previously been occupied by an agent of the Hojo clan. It was very small, and its surroundings consisted of barren plains and a few fishing villages. On the northwest was the moor of Musashi, and on the southeast a forest of reeds marked the littoral of Yedo Bay. The first task that devolved upon Ieyasu was the reclamation of land for building purposes. Some substantial work was done, yet the place did not suggest any fitness for the purpose of an administrative centre, and not until the battle of Sekigahara placed him in command of immense resources, did Ieyasu decide to make Yedo his capital. He then had large recourse to labour requisitioned from the feudatories. By these means hills were levelled, swamps reclaimed, and embankments built, so that the whole aspect of the region was changed, and sites were provided for the residences of various barons and for the establishment of shops and stores whose owners flocked to the new city from Osaka, Kyoto, and other towns. Thereafter, a castle of colossal dimensions, exceeding even the Osaka fortress in magnitude and magnificence, was rapidly constructed, the feudatories being required to supply labour and materials in a measure which almost overtaxed their resources.

Historians differ as to the exact date of the establishment of the Yedo Bakufu, but the best authorities are agreed that the event should be reckoned from the battle of Sekigahara, since then, for the first time, the administrative power came into the hand of the Tokugawa baron, he having previously been simply the head of a board instituted by the Taiko. There can be no doubt, that in choosing Yedo for his capital, Ieyasu was largely guided by the example of Yoritomo and by the experience of the Ashikaga. Kamakura had been a success as signal as Muromachi had been a failure. In the former, Ieyasu had much to imitate; in the latter, much to avoid. We have seen that he distributed the estates of the feudatories so as to create a system automatically unfavourable to disturbance, in which contrivance he borrowed and extended the ideas of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi. It remains to note that what Hojo Tokimasa and Oye Hiromoto were to Minamoto Yoritomo as advisers and organizers, and what Ashikaga Tadayoshi and Kono Moronao were to Ashikaga Takauji in the same roles, such, also, were Honda Masanobu and Honda Masazumi to Tokugawa Ieyasu.

HIDEYORI AND IEYASU

In May, 1605, Hideyori was nominated u-daijin. At that time the nation was divided pretty evenly into two factors; one obedient to the Tokugawa, the other disposed to await Hideyori's coming of age, which event was expected to restore the authority of the Toyotomi family. Fukushima Masanori and Kato Kiyomasa were the most enthusiastic believers in the latter forecast. Up to that time Ieyasu had not given any definite indication of the attitude he intended to assume towards the Taiko's heir. It was not till the year 1611 that he found an opportunity of forming a first-hand estimate of Hideyori's character. He then had a meeting with the latter at Nijo Castle, and is said to have been much struck with the bearing and intelligence of Hideyori. In fact, whereas common report had spoken in very disparaging terms of the young man's capacities--Hideyori was then seventeen years old--the Tokugawa chief found a dignified and alert lad whose aspect suggested that if he was suffered to remain in possession of Osaka a few years longer, Yedo would run the risk of being relegated to a secondary place.

Ieyasu after that interview is said to have felt like "a man who, having still a long distance to travel, finds himself enveloped in darkness." He saw that the time for considering justice and humanity had passed, and he summoned Honda Masanobu to whom he said: "I see that Hideyori is grown up to be a son worthy of his father. By and by it will be difficult for such a man to remain subservient to another." Masanobu, whom history describes as the "Tokugawa's storehouse of wisdom," is recorded to have replied: "So I, too, think, but there is no cause for anxiety. I have an idea." What this idea was events soon disclosed. Summoning one of the officials in the service of Hideyori's wife--Hidetada's daughter--Masanobu spoke as follows: "Hideyori is the only son of the late Taiko and it is the desire of the O-gosho" (the title given to Ieyasu after his retirement from the shogunate) "that he, Hideyori, should have a numerous and thriving family. Therefore, if any woman takes his fancy, she must be enrolled among his attendants to whatever class she may belong. Moreover, if there be among these ladies any who show jealousies or make disturbances, no complaint need be preferred to the O-gosho. I will undertake to settle the matter."

From that time Hideyori lived among women. A word may here be said about the marriage between Hideyori and the granddaughter of Ieyasu, the bride and the bridegroom alike being mere children. According to a recognized historical authority, writing in the Tokugawa Jidaishi, such marriages were inspired by one or more of the following motives: (1) that the bride or bridegroom should serve as a hostage; (2) that the wedding should contribute to cement an alliance between the families of the bride and the bridegroom; (3) that the wedding should become a means of spying into the affairs of one of the families; (4) that it should be an instrument for sowing seeds of enmity between the two families. The objects of Ieyasu in wedding his granddaughter at seven years of age to Hideyori at eleven were doubtless of the nature indicated in the third and fourth of the above definitions. On the one hand, he seemed to the Osaka party to be conforming to the will of the Taiko; on the other, he was able to introduce into the household of Hideyori an unlimited number of spies among the retinue of his granddaughter.

KATAGIRI KATSUMOTO

Just before his death, Hideyoshi specially conjured Koide Hidemasa and Katagiri Katsumoto to labour for the safety of the Toyotomi family. Hidemasa soon followed his patron to the grave, and the duty of managing the affairs of the family devolved entirely upon Katsumoto in his capacity of administrator (bugyo). He devoted himself to the task with the utmost sincerity and earnestness, and he made it the basic principle of his policy to preserve harmony between the Tokugawa and the Toyotomi. His belief was that Ieyasu had not many years more to live, and that on his demise the administrative power would revert wholly to Hideyori as a natural consequence. Hence the wisest course was to avoid any collision in the meanwhile.

THE OATH OF FEALTY

On the 14th of May, 1601, that is to say, shortly after the battle of Sekigahara, all the feudatories were invited to subscribe a written oath of loyalty to the Tokugawa. This oath consisted of three articles. The first was a promise to observe strictly all instructions issued by the Bakufu in Yedo. The second was an engagement not to harbour or protect any person who had either violated or opposed the will of the shogun. The third was a pledge not to give employment to any samurai reported to be a traitor or an assassin. By these stipulations the signatories swore to abide strictly, and declared that any violation of the provisions of the oath would render the violator liable to severe punishment. Among the signatories there were not found any members of the Osaka party. These put forward the last will of the Taiko as a reason for refusing to sign, and from that time it became evident that the situation must terminate in an armed struggle.

ONO HARUNAGA

Among the Osaka partisans was one called Ono Harunaga, the son of the lady Yodo's nurse. This youth led a life of great profligacy, and although not wanting in any of the attributes of the samurai, he altogether lacked political insight. Thus, his relations with Katsumoto were strained, and Harunaga constantly essayed to undermine Katsumoto's influence. Hideyori himself did not want for ability, but acting by the advice of his mother, Yodo, and of his friend, Harunaga, he adopted a false policy of opposition to Ieyasu.

STATE OF OSAKA

The fact that the feudatories who called themselves friends of the Osaka party had refused to sign the oath of fealty, and the fact that the lady Yodo and Harunaga threw their influence into the anti-Tokugawa scale, had the effect of isolating Osaka so far as the laws of the Bakufu were concerned. Men who had broken those laws or otherwise offended against the shogun took refuge in Osaka. Such was the case with the son of Hosokawa Tadaoki; with Goto Matabei, chief vassal of Kuroda Nagamasa, and with Nambu Saemon, principal retainer of Nambu Nobunao. These three and many others repaired to the castle of Osaka, and being there secure against any unarmed attempt of the Tokugawa to arrest them, they virtually defied Ieyasu's control. By degrees a constant stream of ronin, or free-lances, flowed into that city, and a conspicuous element among its inhabitants consisted of Christian feudatories, who, regardless of the edicts of the Bakufu, openly preached their faith and were in no wise checked by the Toyotomi rulers. Even the Buddhist and Shinto priests in Osaka and its territories were independent of the Bakufu authority, and there were cases of boundary disputes in which the Tokugawa officials declined to give judgment since they were not in a position to enforce it. It may well be supposed that this state of affairs grew steadily more obnoxious to the Tokugawa. Ieyasu only awaited a pretext to assert the supremacy of his authority.

INSCRIPTION ON THE BELL

It has already been stated that, in the year 1586, a colossal image of Buddha was erected by Hideyoshi at the Hoko-ji in Kyoto. This idol was made of wood, and the great earthquake of 1596 destroyed it. Subsequently, Ieyasu advised Hideyori to replace the wooden idol with a bronze one. Ono Harunaga stood opposed to this idea, but Katagiri Katsumoto, constant to his policy of placating Ieyasu, threw his influence into the other scale. It is impossible to tell whether, in making this proposal, Ieyasu had already conceived the extraordinary scheme which he ultimately carried out. It would appear more probable, however, that his original policy was merely to impoverish the Toyotomi family by imposing upon it the heavy outlay necessary for constructing a huge bronze Buddha. Many thousands of ryo had to be spent, and the money was obtained by converting into coin a number of gold ingots in the form of horses, which Hideyoshi had stored in the treasury of the Osaka castle as a war fund. Five years later, that is to say, in 1614, the great image was completed and an imposing ceremony of dedication was organized. A thousand priests were to take part, and all the people in the capital, as well as many from the surrounding provinces, assembled to witness the magnificent fete. Suddenly an order was issued in the name of Ieyasu, interdicting the consummation of the ceremony on the ground that the inscription carried by the bell for the idol's temple was designedly treasonable to the Tokugawa. This inscription had been composed and written by a high Buddhist prelate, Seikan, reputed to be one of the greatest scholars and most skilful calligraphists of his time.

It was inconceivable that such a man should err flagrantly in the use of the ideographic script. Ieyasu, however, despatched to Kyoto two rival prelates, Soden and Tengai, with instructions to convoke a meeting of the priests of the Five Temples and invite them to express an opinion about the inscription. Soden held the post of administrator of temples. This placed him officially at the head of all the other priests, and thus the opinions he expressed at the instance of Ieyasu possessed special weight. It was in vain that Seikan repudiated all intention of disrespect and pointed out that the inscription did not for a moment lend itself to the interpretation read into it by the Tokugawa chief. Only one priest, Kaizan of Myoshin-ji, had sufficient courage to oppose Soden's view, and the cause of the Tokugawa chief triumphed.

Without a full knowledge of the Chinese ideographic script it is impossible to clearly understand either the charges preferred by the Tokugawa or the arguments employed in rebuttal. Western readers may, however, confidently accept the unanimous verdict of all modern scholars, that the interpretation assigned to the inscription in the first place by the Tokugawa officials, and in the second by Hayashi Doshun, representing the Confucianists, and Soden and Tengai, representing the Buddhists, was grossly unreasonable. That many experts should be found to range themselves on the side of a ruler so powerful as Ieyasu was not wonderful, but it says little for the moral independence of the men of the time that only one Buddhist priest among many thousand had the courage to withhold his consent to a judgment which outraged truth and justice.

Naturally the news of the decision threw Osaka into a state of great excitement. Lady Yodo hastened to despatch to Sumpu her principal lady-in-waiting, Okura-no-Tsubone, accompanied by another dame of the chamber. These two were received by Acha-no-Tsubone at the court of Ieyasu, and through her they conveyed fervent apologies to the Tokugawa chief. Ieyasu treated the whole matter lightly. He granted an interview to the two ladies from Osaka and sent them on to Yedo to visit the wife of Hidetada, the lady Yodo's younger sister. The Osaka deputies naturally drew favourable inferences from this courteous mood, and taking an opportunity to refer to the affair of the inscription on the bell, elicited from Ieyasu an assurance that the matter need not be regarded with concern.

Not for a moment suspecting any deception, Okura-no-Tsubone and her companion took their way to Osaka. On the other hand, Honda Masanobu and the priest, Tengai, were instructed to inform Katsumoto that the umbrage of Ieyasu was deeply roused, and that some very strong measure would be necessary to restore the Bakufu's confidence in Hideyori. Katsumoto vainly sought some definite statement as to the nature of the reparation required. He was merely told to answer the question himself. He accordingly proposed one of three courses, namely, that the lady Yodo should be sent to Yedo as a hostage; that Hideyori should leave Osaka and settle at some other castle; or, finally, that he should acknowledge himself a vassal of the Tokugawa. To these proposals the only reply that could be elicited from Ieyasu was that Yodo and her son should choose whichever course they pleased, and, bearing that answer, the disquieting import of which he well understood, Katsumoto set out from Sumpu for Osaka. Travelling rapidly, he soon overtook Okwra-no-Tsubone and explained to her the events and their import. But the lady was incredulous. She was more ready to suspect Katsumoto's sincerity than to believe that Ieyasu had meant to deceive her.

Had Katsumoto been free to continue his journey to Osaka, reaching it in advance of Okura-no-Tsubone's party, the result might have been different. But Ieyasu did not contemplate any such sequence of events. He instructed Itakura Katsushige to invite Katsumoto to call at Kyoto on the way to Osaka with the object of discussing an important affair. Katsumoto had no choice but to delay his journey, and Katsushige took care that the delay should be long enough to afford time for Okura-no-Tsubone's party to reach Osaka, and to present their report, together with their suspicions of Katsumoto's disloyalty.

Lady Yodo was incensed when she learned the terms that Katsumoto had offered. "I am Hideyori's mother," she is reported to have cried. "I will never bend my knee to the Kwanto. Rather will I and my son make this castle our death-pillow." Then, with Ono Harunaga, she formed a plot to kill Katsumoto and to draw the sword against the Tokugawa. Subsequently, when Katsumoto returned to Osaka and reported the result of his mission, he stated his conviction that the only exit from the dilemma was one of the three courses indicated above. Yodogimi, on being informed of this opinion, intimated her desire to see Katsumoto. But when the day named for the meeting came and Katsumoto was on the point of leaving his residence for the purpose of repairing to the conference, he received information that the intention was to kill him en route. He therefore fled to his domain in the remote province of Ibaraki. It is recorded that Katsumoto's plan was to offer to send Yodo as a hostage to Yedo. Then the question would arise as to a place of residence for her in the eastern capital, and the processes of preparing a site and building a house were to be supplemented by accidental conflagrations, so that the septuagenarian, Ieyasu, might easily pass away before the actual transfer of the hostage took place. Such was Katsumoto's device, but he had to flee from Osaka before he could carry it into effect.

THE SIEGE OF OSAKA CASTLE

In the year 1614, Ieyasu issued orders for the attack of Osaka Castle, on the ground that Katsumoto's promise had not been fulfilled. The Tokugawa chief set out from Sumpu and his son, Hidetada, from Yedo. Their armies, combined with the forces of several of the feudatories, are said to have aggregated one hundred and fifty thousand men. In Osaka, also, a great host was assembled, and among its leaders were several renowned warriors, including Sanada Yukimura, Goto Matabei, Hanawa Naotsugu, and others, who, although not originally vassals of the Toyotomi, supported Hideyori loyally. As for the castle, its enormous strength rendered it well-nigh impregnable, and after weeks of effort the Tokugawa forces had nothing to show for their repeated attacks except a long list of casualties.

Ieyasu now had recourse to intrigue. The mother of Kyogoku Takatsugu, daimyo of Obama, in Wakasa, was the younger sister of the lady Yodo. Ieyasu induced her to open communications with Yodo, and to represent to the latter the advisability of concluding peace with the Tokugawa instead of remaining perpetually beleaguered in a fortress, thus merely postponing an end which could not be finally averted. A council was convened in the castle to consider this advice. Opinions were divided. Some held that Ieyasu could not be believed, and that if the struggle were maintained for a few years, the face of affairs might change radically. Others urged that the loyalty of the garrison was not above suspicion, and that if the fight went on much longer, treachery might be practised, to which risk a speedy peace, even at some cost, would be preferable. Ono Harunaga was among the advocates of surrender, but Hideyori himself showed that his character had not been mistaken by Ieyasu. He indignantly reminded Harunaga and the latter's fellow thinkers that arms had been taken up by their advice and in opposition to the loyal efforts of Katsumoto in the cause of peace.

Lady Yodo, however, threw her influence into the scale with Ono Harunaga, and finally peace was concluded on terms highly favourable to the Toyotomi. It was agreed that Hideyori should remain in the possession of the castle and of all his domains, and that the garrison, as well as the unattached samurai who formed part of it, should not be punished but should be provided for subsequently. It might have occurred to the leaders of the Osaka party that these lenient conditions covered some occult designs; nothing was less likely than that a statesman like Ieyasu would be content with so signal a failure. But a short-sighted sentiment of confidence seems to have obscured the judgment of the Osaka folks. They actually gave heed to Ieyasu's complaint that he, the o-gosho, and his son, the shogun, must not be allowed to have taken so much trouble for nothing; that it was customary to give hostages to an army which agreed to raise a siege, and that at least a portion of the castle's defences should be destroyed. As to the last point, the Tokugawa chief was kind enough to say that the work of demolition should not cost the garrison anything, since labour would be supplied gratis by the shoguni.

After considerable correspondence it was agreed that Harunaga's son should go to Yedo as a hostage, and that a portion of the outer moat of Osaka Castle should be filled up. Ieyasu did not lose a moment in giving effect to this latter provision. He ordered some of the fudai daimyo of the Kwanto to proceed to Osaka with several thousands of men, who should go to work forthwith to tear down the parapets and fill up the moats of the castle. These orders were implicitly obeyed, and as Ieyasu had omitted to indicate any limit for the work of destruction, it went on without check, and presently the second line of parapets began to follow the first. The Osaka leaders protested and essayed to stay the destruction. But the officers who were in command of the operation said that without a direct message from Honda Masazumi, who represented Ieyasu, they could not suspend their task. Efforts were then made to approach Honda, but he was conveniently absent "on account of his health," and the ensuing correspondence occupied several days, during which the pulling-down and filling-up went on by day and by night. More than one-half of the second moat had disappeared before Masazumi could be found. His answer was that he had been merely told to fill up the moat. Possibly he had mistaken the scope of his instructions and he would refer the matter to Ieyasu. This involved further delay and more filling, until, finally, Masazumi acknowledged that he had made a mistake, declared himself prepared to undergo punishment, and withdrew his men to Fushimi.

Ieyasu supplied the sequel of the farce. When complaint was made against Masazumi, the Tokugawa leader simulated astonishment, expressed much regret, and said that he would condemn Masazumi to commit suicide were it permissible to mar this happy occasion by any capital sentence. "Peace," declared the astute old statesman, "has now been fortunately concluded. Let us not talk any more about the castle's moats or parapets." Against such an attitude the Osaka men could not enter any protest, and the farce ended there. Had the Osaka leaders possessed any measure of the wisdom that marked all the doings of Ieyasu, they would not have suffered matters to rest at such a stage. But they foolishly imagined that some retaliation might be effected by calling upon the Tokugawa to supplement that part of the peace provisions which related to allowances for the samurai who had fought on the side of the garrison. A demand in that sense was preferred to Ieyasu. But he had now laid aside his transient suavity. The Osaka people were brusquely informed that they must look to the Toyotomi family for recompense, and that as for rewarding unattached samurai who had drawn the sword against the shogun, the Osaka people, were they obedient to the dictates of loyalty, would of their own account peremptorily reject such an unwarranted proposition, even though Ieyasu himself were disposed to consent to it.

Of course this answer profoundly enraged the Osaka party. They appreciated for the first time that they had been deceived throughout, and that by a series of adroit manoeuvres they had been removed from an almost impregnable position to a practically helpless plight. Not a few turned their backs on the castle, but a great majority determined to renew the conflict and to die at their posts. The circumstances, however, had now undergone a radical change. The castle had been converted from the strongest fortress in Japan into a mere semblance of strength, and no garrison, however brave and however resolute, could have defended it successfully against the forces that the Tokugawa were able to marshal.

As for Ieyasu, he knew that his task had been immensely lightened. On the 3rd of May, 1615, he started from Sumpu for Osaka at the head of an army numbering scarcely one-third of the force previously led against the castle. Nevertheless, one contingency presented itself in a dangerous light. It was always possible that Hideyori himself should make a sortie from the fortress, and, in that event, the prestige attaching to the memory of his father, Hideyoshi, might have demoralized a large section of the Tokugawa troops. To avert this danger, Ieyasu had recourse to his wonted methods of deception. It has been shown that he held Harunaga's son, as a hostage. This youth was required to write a letter to his father stating that collusion existed between parties within and without the fortress, and that the traitors had plotted to induce Hideyori to make a sortie, whereupon the castle would be given up and Hideyori would be delivered into the hands of his enemies. Harunaga does not appear to have entertained any doubt as to the trustworthiness of this letter. He carried it hastily to Hideyori, who was in the act of preparing to sally out of the castle and throw himself upon the beleaguering forces.

The receipt of the letter naturally led to a change of plan, and although desperate fighting subsequently took place, the castle was finally set on fire by traitors and its fate was seen to be hopeless. Hideyori's wife, granddaughter of Ieyasu, repaired to the Tokugawa headquarters to plead for the life of her husband and his mother. But Ieyasu was inexorable. He granted asylum to his granddaughter, but replied to her prayer by ordering a renewal of the attack upon the castle. On June 4th, Hideyori committed suicide, and his mother, Yodo, was killed by one of his retainers. Some thirty men and women killed themselves at the same time.

Men spoke of the first fruitless assault upon the castle as the "Winter Campaign," and of the second and successful assault as the "Summer Campaign." But the two operations were radically different in their character. For, whereas in the first assault the garrison--numbering something like one hundred and eighty thousand men--stood strictly on the defensive, wisely relying on the immense strength of the fortress, on the second occasion most of the fighting took place outside the walls, the garrison preferring to rely upon strategy and courage rather than on ruined parapets and half-filled moats. Thus, the details of the second campaign occupy a large space in Japanese histories, but these tedious features of strategy and tactics are abbreviated here. There can be no doubt that Ieyasu, so far from seeking to save Hideyori's life, deliberately planned his destruction. Moreover, when it became known that an illegitimate son of Hideyori, called Kunimatsu, had been carried from the castle by some common soldiers and secreted at a farmhouse in Fushimi, Ieyasu caused this child of six to be seized and beheaded by a common executioner at Sanjo-kawara in Kyoto. This episode reflects no credit whatever on the Tokugawa leader. That he should extirpate every scion of the Toyotomi family was not inconsistent with the canons of the tune or with the interests of his own security. But death at the hands of a common executioner ought never to have been decreed for the son of the u-daijin, and the cruelty of the order finds no excuse. No tenet of bushido can be reconciled with such inhumanity.

To this chapter of history belongs the attitude of Ieyasu towards the memory of his old friend and benefactor, Hideyoshi. He caused to be levelled with the ground the temple of Toyokuni Daimyo-jin, where the spirit of Hideyoshi was worshipped, and he ordered the removal of the tomb of the Taiko from Amidagamine to a remote corner of the Daibutsu enclosure. Finally, he sought and obtained the Emperor's sanction to revoke the sacred title conferred posthumously on Hideyoshi. One looks in vain for any fragment of magnanimity among such acts. Ieyasu is reported to have avowedly adopted for guidance the precept, "Before taking any step propound to your heart the query, how about justice?" He certainly did not put any such query to his own conscience in connexion with the castle of Osaka or its inmates.

THE GENNA YEAR-PERIOD (1615-1623)

The battle of Sekigahara is often spoken of as the last great internecine campaign in Japanese history, but this is hardly borne out by the facts. Indeed, from what has been said above, it will be seen that Sekigahara was merely a prelude to Osaka, and that the former stood to the latter almost in the relation of a preliminary skirmish. It is from August, 1615, that we must date the commencement of the long period of peace with which Japan was blessed under Tokugawa rule. The year-name was then changed to Genna.

DEATH OF IEYASU

In February, 1616, Ieyasu fell sick, and in April the Emperor sent an envoy to confer on him the title of dajo daijin. He expired a few days afterwards at the age of seventy-five and was apotheosized as Tosho Dai-Gongen (Light of the East and Great Incarnation). He was buried on the summit of Mount Kuno in Suruga, and ultimately his ashes were carried to Nikko for interment. It is recorded, though not on independent authority, that when his end was drawing near he spoke to those at his side in the folio whig terms: "My death is now in sight, but happily the country is at peace, and Hidetada has already discharged the duties of shogun for several years. I have, therefore, no cause for anxiety. If, after I am gone, Hidetada should make any failure in his administration of public affairs, or if he should lose control of the people, any one of you to whom the Imperial order may be addressed, should assume the functions of shogun, for, as you well know, that post is not the property of this or that person in particular, nor will my rest in the grave be disturbed though such an event occurs."

Another record, however, represents Ieyasu as following the example of the Taiko and conjuring his most trusted retainers to devote their strength to the support of the Tokugawa family. To Hidetada he is said to have suggested the advisability of compelling the daimyo to remain in Yedo for three full years after his (Ieyasu's) demise, in order to test thoroughly their attitude. Hidetada replied that while most unwilling to reject his father's advice, his intention was to allow the feudatories to leave Yedo at once, and if any one of them evinced hostile feeling by shutting himself up in his castle, he, Hidetada, would follow him thither and level his parapets with the ground. Such an object lesson was, in his opinion, the best stepping-stone to supremacy. Ieyasu is reported to have received this answer with profound satisfaction, and to have declared that he was now assured of the permanence of peace. He then had all his sons called to his side and enjoined upon them the duty of serving the shogun faithfully. To his grandson, Iemitsu, he specially addressed himself, saying: "It will fall to your lot, some day, to govern the country. On that day remember that benevolence should be the first principle of a ruler."

CHARACTER OF IEYASU

Frugality is one of the virtues which Ieyasu certainly possessed. Striking example of its display is connected with Yedo Castle. This fortress, as built originally by Ota Dokwan, was not of imposing dimensions even as a military stronghold, and the dwelling-house in the keep presented most homely features, having a thatched roof and a porch of rough boat-planks. Yet Ieyasu was content to make this edifice his palace, and while he devoted much care to strengthening the fortifications, he bestowed none on the enlargement and adornment of the dwelling. The system he adopted to populate the city may be said to have been colonial. He encouraged his vassals to settle there, giving them lands to cultivate and breeding-grounds for horses, so that within a brief time the city obtained numerous inhabitants and developed a prosperous condition. It was in planning the details of all enterprises that he particularly excelled. To everything he brought an almost infinite capacity of patient study and minute examination; his principle being that to achieve success the first desideratum is to avoid mistakes. Doubtless he owed this faculty of profound painstaking to the vicissitudes of his early life. The years that he passed under the control of the Imagawa and afterwards under that of Oda taught him patience and self-restraint, and made the study of literature obligatory for him, at the same time begetting in his mind a feeling of reverence for the Buddhist faith.

Japanese historians generally credit him with the virtues of humanity, magnanimity, justice, and affability. That he was always pleased to receive advice from others and that he set an example of courtesy and zeal, there can be no doubt. Neither will anyone deny that his resourcefulness amounted to genius. On the other hand, his record shows that he was unscrupulous in utilizing opportunities, whether created by himself or made accessible by fortune, and from the same record we are compelled to infer that he could be cruel and implacable on occasion. His favourite sayings afford perhaps the best index that we possess to his disposition:--

Man's life is like a long journey toiling under a heavy burden.

Never be in a hurry.

He that regards destitution as his habitual lot will never feel the pressure of want.

When the spirit of ambition arises in your bosom, recall the days of your distress.

To forbear is the source of harmlessness and the road to success.

Regard anger as an enemy.

He that knows how to win only and does not know how to lose, will achieve nothing useful.

Blame yourself and acquit others.

To fall short is better than to exceed.

ENGRAVING: SIGNATURE OF ASHIKAGA TAKAUJI

ENGRAVING: THEATRICAL PLAY OF OLD JAPAN

Chapter XXXIX

FIRST PERIOD OF THE TOKUGAWA BAKUFU; FROM THE FIRST TOKUGAWA SHOGUN, IEYASU, TO THE FOURTH, IETSUNA (1603-1680)

LEGISLATION

THE Tokugawa family having brought the whole empire under its sway, Ieyasu applied himself to legislative work with a degree of thoroughness and earnestness that far exceeded anything in the history of his predecessors. The terms of the oath of allegiance that he dictated to the feudatories after the battle of Sekigahara have been already referred to. Ten years later, that is to say, in 1611, he required all the provincial governors to subscribe this same oath, and, in 1613, he enacted a law for the Court nobles (kugeshu-hatto), to which the Imperial assent was obtained. This was the first instance of a military man legislating for the nobles of the capital; but it must be noted that the latter by their own misconduct furnished an opportunity for such interference. A Court scandal assumed such dimensions, in 1607, that the Emperor ordered the Bakufu to investigate the matter and to inflict suitable punishment. Ieyasu summoned a number of the offenders to Sumpu, where he subjected fourteen of them to severe examination. Ultimately some were sentenced to exile and others were deprived of their ranks, while the principal malefactor, Inokuma, general of the Left, was condemned to death. This affair demonstrated that the effective power was in the hands of the military, and throughout the Tokugawa rule they never failed to exercise it. In September of the year that witnessed the fall of Osaka Castle, Ieyasu and Hidetada summoned all the provincial governors to Momo-yama, and handed to them a body of rules entitled the "Laws of the Military Houses." These laws ran as follows:-*

*The translation of these laws is taken from a paper read by Mr. Consul-General J. C. Hall and recorded in the "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan" for 1911.

"(1) Literature, arms, archery, and horsemanship are, systematically, to be the favourite pursuits.

"Literature first, and arms next was the rule of the ancients. They must both be cultivated concurrently. Archery and horsemanship are the more essential for the military houses. Weapons of warfare are ill-omened words to utter; the use of them, however, is an unavoidable necessity. In times of peace and good order we must not forget that disturbance may arise. Dare we omit to practise our warlike exercise and drill?"

Although this provision ostensibly encouraged the pursuit of literary and military arts, those who read the law too implicitly and devoted themselves too earnestly to the pursuit of arms quickly found that they were not in touch with the time or with the intention of the legislators. In fact, the purpose of the latter was to bracket literature and the art of war together, giving no preference to either.

"(2) Drinking parties and gaming amusements must be kept within due bounds.

"In our Instructions it is laid down that strict moderation in these respects is to be observed. To be addicted to venery and to make a pursuit of gambling is the first step towards the loss of one's domain."

This rule may be said to define what is known in Europe as "conduct unbecoming an officer." Not to know how to order one's tongue was as grave an offence as debauchery, according to the canons of the samurai.

"(3) Offenders against the law are not to be harboured in feudal domains.

"Law is the very foundation of ceremonial decorum and of social order. To infringe the law in the name of reason is as bad as to outrage reason in the name of law. To disregard the law (laid down by us) is an offence which will not be treated with leniency."

This provision was directly suggested by the Government's desire to suppress Christianity.

"(4) Throughout the domains whether of the greater or lesser barons (daimyo and shomyo) or of the holders of minor benefits, if any of the gentry or soldiers (shi and sotsu) in their service be guilty of rebellion or murder, such offenders must be at once expelled from their domain.

"Fellows of savage disposition (being retainers) are an apt weapon for overthrowing the domain or the family employing them, and a deadly instrument for cutting off the common people. How can such be tolerated?"

In the early days of the Yedo Bakufu it was not uncommon for a feudatory to enrol among his vassals refugee samurai who had blood on their hands. These would often be pursued into the fiefs where they had taken refuge, and much disorder resulted. The above provision removed these murderers from the protection of the feudatory in whose service they had enlisted.

"(5) Henceforth no social intercourse is to be permitted outside of one's own domain with the people (gentry and commoners) of another domain.

"In general, the customs of the various domains are all different from one another, each having its own peculiarities. To divulge the secrets of one's own domain is a sure indication of an intent to curry favour."

It has been shown that by the Chinese masters of strategy whose works were studied in Japan the art of espionage was placed on a high pinnacle. This teaching appears to have produced such evil results that the Tokugawa legislated against it.

"(6) The residential castles in the domains may be repaired; but the matter must invariably be reported. Still more imperative is it that the planning of structural innovations of any kind must be absolutely avoided.

"A castle with a parapet exceeding three thousand feet by ten is a bane to a domain. Crenelated walls and deep moats (of castles) are causes of anarchy."

This provision was important as a means of enfeebling the barons. They were not at liberty to repair even a fence of the most insignificant character or to dredge a moat, much more to erect a parapet, without previous sanction from the Bakufu.

"(7) If, in a neighbouring domain, innovations are being hatched or cliques being formed, the fact is to be reported without delay.

"Men are always forming groups; whilst, on the other hand, few ever come to anything. On this account, they fail to follow their lords or fathers, and soon come into collision with those of neighbouring villages. If the ancient prohibitions are not maintained, somehow or other innovating schemes will be formed."

Everything in the form of combination, whether nominally for good or for evil, was regarded with suspicion by the Bakufu, and all unions were therefore interdicted. Of course, the most important incident which the law was intended to prevent took the form of alliances between barons of adjacent provinces.

"(8) Marriages must not be contracted at private convenience.

"Now, the marriage union is a result of the harmonious blending of the In and Yo (i.e. the Yin and Yang of Chinese metaphysics, the female and male principles of nature). It is therefore not a matter to be lightly undertaken. It is said in the 'Scowling' passage of the (Chow) Book of Changes, 'Not being enemies they unite in marriage.' Whilst (the elders are) thinking of making advances to the opponent (family), the proper time (for the marriage of the young couple) is allowed to slip by. In the 'Peach Young' poem of the Book of Odes it is said, 'If the man and woman, duly observing what is correct, marry at the proper time of life, there will be no widows in the land.' To form cliques (political parties) by means of matrimonial connexions is a source of pernicious stratagems."

This provision was, in fact, a codification of the veto pronounced by Hideyoshi on his death-bed against marriages between the families of different daimyo. Ieyasu himself had been the first to violate the veto, and he was the first to place it subsequently on the statute book. The third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu, extended the restriction by ordering that even families having estates of only three thousand koku should not intermarry without Yedo's previous consent.

"(9) As to the rule that the daimyo shall come (to the shogun's court at Yedo) to do service:--

"In the Shoku Nihongi (The Continuation of the Chronicles of Japan) it is recorded amongst the enactments,

"'Except when entrusted with some official duty to assemble, no one (dignitary) is allowed at his own pleasure to assemble his tribe within the limits of the capital, no one is to go about attended by more than twenty horsemen, etc.'

"Hence it is not permissible to lead about a large force of soldiers. For daimyo whose revenues range from 1,000,000 koko down to 200,000 koku, the number of twenty horsemen is not to be exceeded. For those whose revenues are 100,000 koku and under, the number is to be in the same proportion.

"On occasions of official service, however (i.e. in time of warfare), the number of followers is to be in proportion to the social standing of each daimyo."

The above rule of repairing to the capital to pay respects (go-sankin) was an old fashion, and barons were accustomed to go with large retinues. Thus, it often happened that collisions occurred between the corteges of hostile feudatories, and it was to prevent these sanguinary encounters that the Tokugawa set strict limits to the number of samurai accompanying a military chief.

"(10) There must be no confusion in respect of dress uniforms, as regards the materials thereof.

"The distinction between lord and vassal, between superior and inferior, must be clearly marked by the apparel. Retainers may not, except in rare cases by special favour of their lords, indiscriminately wear silk stuffs, such as shiro-aya (undyed silk with woven patterns), shiro-kosode (white wadded silk coats), murasaki-awase (purple silk coats, lined), murasaki-ura (silk coats lined with purple); nori (white gloss silk), mumon (silk coat without the wearer's badge dyed on it), kosode (a coloured silk-wadded coat). In recent times, retainers and henchmen (soldiers) have taken to wearing rich damasks and silk brocade. This elaborate display was not allowed by the ancient laws and it must be severely kept within bounds."

"(11) Miscellaneous persons are not at their pleasure to ride in palanquins.

"There are families who for special reasons from of old have (inherited) the privilege of riding in palanquins without permission from the authorities: and there are others who by permission of the authorities exercise that privilege. But, latterly, even sub-vassals and henchmen of no rank have taken to so riding. This is a flagrant impertinence. Henceforward the daimyo of the provinces, and such of their kinsfolk as are men of distinction subordinate to them, may ride without applying for Government permission. Besides those, the following have permission, viz., vassals and retainers of high position about their lords; doctors and astrologers; persons of over sixty years of age, and sick persons and invalids. If ordinary retainers, or inferior henchmen (sotsu) are allowed to ride in palanquins, it will be considered to be the fault of their lords.

"This proviso, however, does not apply to Court nobles, abbots, or ecclesiastics in general.

"(12) The samurai throughout the provinces are to practise frugality.

"Those who are rich like to make a display, whilst those who are poor are ashamed of not being on a par with the others. There is no other influence so pernicious to social observances as this; and it must be strictly kept in check."

Frugality always occupied a prominent place in the Bakufu's list of essentials. Frequent and strenuous efforts were made by successive shoguns to encourage people in this virtue, but with the long peace enjoyed by the country under Tokugawa rule, a tendency to increasing luxury constantly prevailed, and the Government's aims in this respect were not realized except for brief periods. During the administration of the first three Tokugawa shoguns, and under the eighth shogun (Yoshimune), some success attended official injunctions of economy, but on the whole a steady growth of extravagance characterized the era.

"(13) The lords of domain (kokushu, masters of provinces) must select men of capacity for office.

"The way to govern is to get hold of the proper men. The merits and demerits (of retainers) should be closely scanned, and reward or reproof unflinchingly distributed accordingly. If there be capable men in the administration, that domain is sure to flourish; if there be not capable men, then the domain is sure to go to ruin. This is an admonition which the wise ones of antiquity all agree in giving forth."

"The tenor of the foregoing rules must be obeyed.

"Keicho, 20th year, 7th month (September 23, 1615)."

The above body of laws may be regarded as the Tokugawa Constitution. They were re-enacted by each shogun in succession on assuming office. The custom was to summon all the daimyo to Yedo, and to require their attendance at the Tokugawa palace, where, in the presence of the incoming shogun, they listened with faces bowed on the mats to the reading of the laws. Modifications and additions were, of course, made on each occasion, but the provisions quoted above remained unaltered in their essentials. Up to the time of the third shogun (Iemitsu), the duty of reading aloud the laws at the solemn ceremonial of the new shogun's investiture devolved on a high Buddhist priest, but it was thereafter transferred to the representative of the Hayashi family (to be presently spoken of). Any infraction of the laws was punished mercilessly, and as their occasionally loose phraseology left room for arbitrary interpretation, the provisions were sometimes utilized in the interest of the shogun and at the expense of his enemies.

RULES FOR THE IMPERIAL COURT AND COURT NOBLES

In the same month of the same year there was promulgated a body of laws called the "Rules of the Imperial Court, and the Court Nobles" (Kinchu narabi ni Kugeshu Sho-hatto). This enactment bore the signatures of the kwampaku and the shogun and had the Imperial sanction. It consisted of seventeen articles, but only five of them had any special importance:

"(1) Learning is the most essential of all accomplishments. Not to study is to be ignorant of the doctrines of the ancient sages, and an ignorant ruler has never governed a nation peacefully."

This specious precept was not intended to be literally obeyed. The shoguns had no desire for an erudite Emperor. Their conception of learning on the part of the sovereign was limited to the composition of Japanese verselets. A close study of the doctrines of the ancient Chinese sages might have exposed the illegitimacy of the Bakufu administration. Therefore, Yedo would have been content that the Mikado should think only of spring flowers and autumn moonlight, and should not torment his mind by too close attention to the classics.

"(2) A man lacking in ability must not be appointed to the post of regent or minister of State even though he belong to the Go-sekke (Five Designated Families), and it is needless to say that none but a member of those families may serve in such a position."

"(3) A man of ability, even though he be old, shall not be allowed to resign the post of regent or minister of State in favour of another. If he attempts to resign, his resignation should be refused again and again."

The above two provisions practically conferred on the Bakufu the power of not only appointing the regent and ministers of State but also of keeping them in office. For, as the law had been framed in Yedo, in Yedo also was vested competence to judge the ability or disability of a candidate. Hence, when the Emperor proposed to appoint a regent or a minister, the Bakufu had merely to intimate want of confidence in the nominee's ability; and similarly, if the sovereign desired to dismiss one of those high officials, the shogun could interfere effectually by reference to the letter of the law. Thus, the power of appointing and dismissing the great officials in Kyoto, which is one of the important prerogatives of the crown, was practically usurped by the shogun.

"(4) An adopted son shall always be chosen from the family of his adopter; and a female shall never be adopted to be the head of a family, no such custom having existed in Japan at any time."

This provision had two main objects. The first was to avert adoptions having the effect of combinations; the second, to prevent adoption of Imperial princes into other families. The Bakufu sought, as far as possible, to bring about the taking of the tonsure by all princes of the Blood who were not in the direct line of the succession, and to keep these princes from attaining to the posts of regents or ministers of State.

"(5) All reports shall be submitted to the Emperor by the regent, the denso, or an administrator (bugyo). Any other person who, in disregard of this rule, attempts to address the Throne direct, shall be sent into exile, whatever his rank."

The denso mentioned in this provision was an official appointed by the Bakufu for that special purpose. The whole arrangement as to communication with the Throne constituted a powerful buttress of Bakufu influence. Generally, the latter could contrive, as has been shown above, to control the appointment and continuance in office of a regent or a minister, while as for the administrators (bugyo), they were nominees of Yedo. It thus resulted that the Throne was approachable through the channel of the Bakufu only.

LAWS WITH REFERENCE TO BUDDHISM

The above laws remained unchanged throughout the Tokugawa era. A special law was also enacted with reference to Buddhist sects and the principal Buddhist temples. Ieyasu secured to these temples the possession of their manors by granting title-deeds bearing what was called the "go-shuinji," or "vermilion signature." The term was not really applicable in the case of Ieyasu. It is true that Hideyoshi, doubtless in imitation of Chinese custom, stamped a vermilion seal upon documents of this character; but the Tokugawa shoguns employed a black signature written with a pen. Nevertheless, the term "go-shuinji" continued to be used from the time of the Taiko downwards. It was an outcome of Ieyasu's astuteness that the great Hongwan temple was divided into two branches, eastern and western, by which process its influence was prevented from becoming excessive. During the administration of the third shogun, every daimyo was required to adhere to a definite sect of Buddhism, and to the Buddhist and Shinto temples was entrusted the duty of keeping an accurate census of their parishioners. The direct purpose of these latter laws was to facilitate the extermination of Christianity. Anyone whose name was not enrolled on one of the above lists fell under suspicion of embracing the foreign faith.

A JAPANESE HISTORIAN'S OPINION

Referring to the above laws the Tokugawa Jidaishi says:

"The above laws and regulations were the Constitution of the Tokugawa Bakufu. By the aid of their provisions the influence of Yedo was extended to every part of the nation from the Imperial Court to the world of religion. No such codes had ever previously existed in Japan. Any unit of the nation, whether a Court noble, a great feudatory, a priest, or a common samurai, had to yield implicit obedience or to suffer condign punishment. Thus, it fell out that everybody being anxious to conform with the rules, the universal tendency was to share in preserving the peace. From the point of view of this system, Ieyasu was eminently above all modern and ancient heroes. Hideyoshi won brilliant victories in war, but he saw no better method of maintaining peace at home than to send the country's armies to fight abroad. He seems to have conceived a hope that his generals would find goals for their ambition in Korea or China, and would exhaust their strength in endeavouring to realize their dreams. But his plan brought about the contrary result; for the generals formed fresh enmities among themselves, and thus the harvest that was subsequently reaped at Sekigahara found hands to sow it.

"Ieyasu, however, prized literature above militarism. He himself became a pioneer of learning, and employed many scholars to assist in constructing a solid framework of peace. The territorial nobles had to follow his example. Even Kato Kiyomasa, Asano Yukinaga, and Kuroda Nagamasa, each of whom during his lifetime was counted a divinely inspired general, found themselves constrained to study the Chinese classics under the guidance of Funabashi Hidekata and Fujiwara Seigwa. How much more cogent, then, was the similar necessity under which lesser men laboured. Thus, Ieyasu's love of literature may be regarded as a cause of the peace that prevailed under the Tokugawa for 260 years."

REVIVAL OF LEARNING

Ieyasu employed four instruments for educational purposes--the establishment of schools, the engagement of professors, the collection of ancient literary works, and the printing of books. In accordance with his last will his son Yoshinao, daimyo of Owari, built, in 1636, the Daiseiden College beside the temple of Kiyomizu in Ueno Park, near the villa of Hayashi Kazan, the celebrated Confucian scholar; but, in 1691, the college was moved to the slope called Shohei-zaka, where a bridge--Shohei-bashi--was thrown across the river. "Shohei" is the Japanese pronunciation of "Changping," Confucius's birthplace, and the school was known as the Shohei-ko. It received uniform patronage at the hands of the Tokugawa, whose kinsmen and vassals were required to study there, their proficiency, as determined by its examinations, being counted a passport to office. Yoshinao laid the foundation of a great library at the school and the number of volumes was constantly increased.

During the lifetime of Ieyasu, one of the most noted scholars was Fujiwara Seigwa. By the invitation of the Tokugawa chief he lectured on the classics in Kyoto, and it is recorded that Ieyasu, who had just (1600) arrived in that city, attended one of these lectures, wearing his ordinary garments. Seigwa is related to have fixed his eyes on Ieyasu and addressed him as follows: "The greatest work of Confucius teaches that to order oneself is the most essential of achievements. How shall a man who does not order himself be able to order his country? I am lecturing on ethics to one who behaves in a disorderly and discourteous manner. I believe that I preach in vain." Ieyasu immediately changed his costume, and the event contributed materially to the reputation alike of the intrepid teacher and of the magnanimous student, as well as to the popularity of Seigwa's doctrines.

Hayashi Kazan was a disciple of Seigwa whose reputation as a scholar he rivalled. Ieyasu employed him extensively in drafting laws; and many of his disciples subsequently served as teachers of the Chinese classics. The scripture of Hayashi's school of ethics was Chu Hi's commentary on the "Great Learning" of Confucius. In this system, ethics become a branch of natural philosophy. "Corresponding to the regular change of the seasons in nature is right action in man (who is the crown of nature), in the relation of sovereign and subject, parent and child, elder brother and younger brother, husband and wife, friend and friend. To his sovereign, or lord, he is bound to be faithful; to his parents, dutiful, and to his elder brother, respectful. Affection should characterize the relations of husband and wife and trust those of friend with friend."

A moment's consideration of this ethical system shows that it cannot be reconciled with such a form of administration as that existing under the Bakufu. Genuine loyalty to the sovereign found no place in the practical code of Tokugawa. Whether Ieyasu appreciated that fact or whether he ignored it in consideration of the civilizing and tranquillizing influences of Confucianism, there is nothing to show. Ultimately, however, it was to the ethics of the Chinese sage that the Tokugawa downfall became indirectly attributable.

Ieyasu showed much earnestness in searching for and collecting ancient books. Before and after the war of Osaka, he ordered priests to copy old books and records preserved in Buddhist temples and noblemen's houses. Subsequently, during the Kwanei era--1621-1643--there was built within the castle of Yedo a library called Momijiyama Bunko where the books were stored. He was also instrumental in causing the compilation and publication of many volumes whose contents contribute materially to our historical knowledge. The writing of history in the Imperial Court had been abandoned for many years, and the scholars employed by Ieyasu had recourse to private diaries for materials. Hayashi Kazan (Doshuri) was entrusted with the duty of distinguishing between the true and the false in using these records, and there resulted two memorable works. The second of these consisted in the main of genealogical tables. It extended to 372 volumes and subsequently became the Kwanei Shoke Keizu-den. The first, a national history, was originally called the Honcho Hennen-roku. Before its compilation Kazan (Doshun) died, and the book was concluded by his son, Harukatsu, in the year 1635. It consisted of three hundred volumes in all, and covered the period from the age of the Gods to the year 1610. It is now known as the Honcho Tsugan. The two works having been published to the order and under the patronage of the Bakufu, their contents were by no means free from the stain of favour and affection, but they nevertheless possess inestimable historical value.

THE SECOND TOKUGAWA SHOGUN, HIDETADA

Hidetada, third son of Ieyasu, was born in 1579; succeeded to the shogunate in 1605; abdicated in 1622, and died in 1632. His appearance on the historical stage was not very glorious, for, as already shown, when marching to join his father's army before the battle of Sekigahara, he allowed himself to be detained so long at the siege of Ueda Castle that he failed to be present at the great combat, and Ieyasu, as a mark of displeasure, refused to meet him until Honda Masazumi pleaded Hidetada's cause. During the first eleven years of his shogunate he exercised little real authority, the administration being conducted by Ieyasu himself from his nominal place of retirement in Sumpu. Thus, the period of Hidetada's independent sway extended over six years only. But during the ten subsequent years he continued to exercise much camera influence over the Government, though his power was inferior to that which had been wielded by Ieyasu in nominal retirement. Honda Masazumi, who had befriended him at the critical time mentioned above, occupied the highest post in the administration, the second place being assigned to Sakai Tadayo, while in Kyoto the Tokugawa interests were guarded by Itakura Katsushige and Matsudaira Masatsuna.

The era of Hidetada was essentially one of organization, and by the exercise of sincerity and justice he contributed much to the stability of the Tokugawa rule. Not the least memorable step taken by him related to the fortress of Yedo. In the year following his succession, he ordered the feudatories of the east to construct the castle which remains to this day one of the marvels of the world. "Around it stretched a triple line of moats, the outermost measuring nine and a half miles in length, the innermost one and a half, their scarps constructed with blocks of granite nearly as colossal as those of the Osaka stronghold, though in the case of the Yedo fortification every stone had to be carried hundreds of miles over the sea. The gates were proportionately as huge as those at Osaka, well-nigh the most stupendous works ever undertaken, not excepting even the Pyramids of Egypt. There is not to be found elsewhere a more striking monument of military power, nor can anyone considering such a work, as well as its immediate predecessor, the Taiko's stronghold at Osaka, and its numerous contemporaries of lesser but still striking proportions in the principal fiefs, refuse to credit the Japanese with capacity for large conceptions and competence to carry them into practice."

CONJUGAL RELATIONS BETWEEN THE IMPERIAL FAMILY AND THE TOKUGAWA

It had been one of the most cherished wishes of Ieyasu to follow the Fujiwara precedent by establishing conjugal relations between the Imperial family and the Tokugawa. But the ex-Emperor, Go-Yozei, turned a deaf ear to this proposal on the ground that a lady born in a military house had never been chosen consort of a sovereign. Ieyasu, however, did not abandon his purpose. He entrusted its prosecution to Todo Takatora, and in 1616, the year of Ieyasu's death, Todo induced Konoe Nobuhiro, minister of the Right, to promote this undertaking. Nobuhiro, being the Emperor's younger brother, was able to exert much influence, and finally the ex-Emperor gave his consent. In June, 1620, Kazuko, daughter of Hidetada, became first lady-in-waiting, and ultimately Empress under the name of Tofuku-mon-in. It is recorded that 1180 chests were required to carry her trousseau from Yedo, and that the costs of her outfit and of her journey to Kyoto aggregated more than a million sterling. She gave birth to two princes and five princesses, and the house of Konoe, which had been instrumental in procuring her summons to the Court, became the leader of the Go-sekke.

DEATH OF HIDETADA AND HIS CHARACTER

After resigning the shogunate in 1622, Hidetada retired to the inner castle (Nishi Maru) in Yedo and there continued to direct affairs. He died ten years later, at the age of fifty-eight, and was interred at the temple Zojo-ji, in the Shiba district of the eastern capital. Japanese historians agree that Hidetada's character was adapted for the work of consolidation that fell to his lot. He resembled his father, Ieyasu, in decision and perseverance; he never dealt lightly with any affair, and while outwardly gentle and considerate, he was at heart subtle and uncompromising. An interesting illustration of the administrative canons of the time is afforded in the advice said to have been given by Hosokawa Tadaoki when consulted by Hidetada. "There is an old proverb," Tadaoki replied, "that if a round lid be put on a square vessel, those within will have ease; but if a square lid be used to cover a square vessel, there will result a feeling of distress." Asked for a standard by which to judge qualifications for success, the same nobleman answered that an oyster shell found on the Akashi shore is the best type of a man qualified to succeed, for the shell has been deprived of all its angles by the beating of the waves. Of Hidetada himself there is told an anecdote which shows him to have been remarkably free from superstition. A comet made its appearance and was regarded with anxiety by the astrologists of Kyoto, who associated its advent with certain misfortune. Hidetada ridiculed these fears. "What can we tell," he said, "about the situation of a solitary star in the wide universe, and how can we know that it has anything to do with this little world?"

THE THIRD SHOGUN, IEMITSU

Iemitsu, son of Hidetada, was born in 1603; succeeded to the shogunate in 1622, and held that post until his death, in 1651. His principal ministers were Ii Naotaka (who had occupied the post of premier since the days of Ieyasu), Matsudaira Nobutsuna, and Abe Tadaaki, one of the ablest officers that served the Tokugawa. He devoted himself to consolidating the system founded by his grandfather, Ieyasu, and he achieved remarkable success by the exercise of exceptional sagacity and determination. In 1626, he proceeded to Kyoto at the head of a large army, simply for the purpose of conveying to the feudal nobles a significant intimation that he intended to enforce his authority without hesitation. Up to that, time the feudal chiefs were not officially required to reside in Yedo for any fixed time or at any fixed interval. But now it was clearly enacted that the feudatories of the east and those of the west should repair to the Bakufu capital, at different seasons in the year; should remain there a twelvemonth,--in the case of feudal lords from the Kwanto only six months--and should leave their wives and families as hostages during the alternate period of their own absence from the shogun's city, which they spent in the provinces.

This system was technically called sankin kotai, that is "alternate residence in capital." From the point of view of the Tokugawa the plan was eminently wise, for it bound the feudal chiefs closer to the shogun, keeping them under his eye half the time and giving hostages for their good behaviour the other half; and it helped the growth of Yedo both in financial and political power, by bringing money into it and by making it more than before an administrative headquarters. On the other hand there was a corresponding drain on the provinces, all the greater since the standard of living at Yedo was higher than in rural districts and country nobles thus learned extravagance. To prevent other families from growing too rich and powerful seems to have been a part of Ieyasu's definite plan for holding in check possible rivals of the Tokugawa, so that it is not impossible that he foresaw this very result. At any rate it is known that in the instructions for government which he handed down to his successors he urged them to keep strict surveillance over their feudal lords and if any one of them seemed to be growing rich to impose upon him such a burden of public works as would cripple him.

In 1632, Iemitsu made another military demonstration at Kyoto, and on this occasion the Emperor would have conferred on him the post of prime minister (dajo daijiri). But he refused to accept it. This refusal was subsequently explained as a hint to the feudal chiefs that inordinate ambition should be banished from their bosoms; but in reality Iemitsu was influenced by the traditional principle that the Throne had no higher gift to bestow on a subject than the shogunate.

PROMINENT FEATURES OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF IEMITSU

The prominent feature of this able ruler's administration was that he thoroughly consolidated the systems introduced by his grandfather and confirmed by his father. From the time of Iemitsu downwards, cardinal forms were never changed, alterations being confined to non-essentials. On his death-bed he desired that his prime minister, Hotta Masamori, and several other notables should accompany him to the tomb, and on the night of the 10th of June, 1651, Hotta Masamori (aged forty-six), Abe Shigetsugu (aged fifty-two), Uchida Masanobu (aged thirty-three), Masamori's mother (aged sixty-three), Saegusa Moriyoshi, and Okuyama Yasushige all committed suicide. Their tombs stand to this day in Nikko.

THE NIKKO SHRINE AND THE KWANEI TEMPLE

It has been related how largely Ieysau was aided against the Osaka party by Tengai, abbot of Enryaku-ji. This priest it was that devised the singular accusation connected with the inscription on a bell at Hoko-ji. He received from Ieyasu the diocese of Nikko in Shimotsuke province, where he built a temple which ultimately served as the shrine of Ieyasu. But the first Tokugawa shogun, faithful to his frugal habits, willed that the shrine should be simple and inexpensive, and when Hidetada died, his mausoleum (mitamaya) at the temple Zojo-ji in Yedo presented by its magnificence such a contrast to the unpretending tomb at Nikko, that Iemitsu ordered Akimoto Yasutomo to rebuild the latter, and issued instructions to various feudal chiefs to furnish labour and materials. The assistance of even Korea, Ryukyu, and Holland was requisitioned, and the Bakufu treasury presented 700,000 ryo of gold. The shrine was finished in 1636 on a scale of grandeur and artistic beauty almost unsurpassed in any other country. The same priest, Tengai, was instrumental in building the temple known as Kwanei-ji, and at his suggestion, Hidetada asked the Imperial Court to appoint a prince to the post of abbot (monsu).

This system already existed in the case of Enryaku-ji on Hiei-zan in Kyoto, and it was Tengai's ambition that his sect, the Tendai, should possess in Yedo a temple qualified to compete with the great monastery of the Imperial capital. Thus, Ueno hill on which the Yedo structure stood was designated "Toei-zan," as the site of the Kyoto monastery was designated "Hiei-zan," and just as the temple on the latter received the name of "Enryaku-ji," after the era of its construction (Enryaku), so that in Yedo was named "Kwanei-ji," the name of the year period of its foundation being Kwanei. Finally, the Kwanei-ji was intended to guard the "Demon's Gate" of the Bakufu city as the Enryaku-ji guarded the Imperial capital. Doubtless, in furthering this plan, Iemitsu had for ultimate motive the association of an Imperial prince with the Tokugawa family, so that in no circumstances could the latter be stigmatized as "rebels." Not until the day of the Tokugawa's downfall did this intention receive practical application, when the priest-prince of Ueno (Prince Kitashirakawa) was set up as their leader by the remnants of the Bakufu army.

ISE AND NIKKO

Through many centuries it had been the custom of the Imperial Court to worship at the great shrine of Ise and to offer suitable gifts. This ceremony was long suspended, however, on account of continuous wars as well as the impecunious condition of the Court. Under the sway of the Oda and the Toyotomi, fitful efforts were made to renew the custom, but it was left for the Tokugawa to re-establish it. The third shogun, Iemitsu, petitioned the Court in that sense, and assigned an estate in Yamashiro as a means of defraying the necessary expenses, the Fujinami family being appointed to perform the ceremony hereditarily. At the same time Iemitsu petitioned that the Court should send an envoy to worship at Nikko every year on the anniversary of the death of Ieyasu, and this request having been granted, Nikko thenceforth became to the Tokugawa what Ise was to the Imperial Court.

BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY

It has been shown that the Shimabara revolt finally induced the Bakufu Government to adopt the policy of international seclusion and to extirpate Christianity. In carrying out the latter purpose, extensive recourse was had to the aid of Buddhism. The chief temple of each sect of that religion was officially fixed, as were also the branch temples forming the parish of the sect; every unit of the nation was required to register his name in the archives of a temple, and the Government ordered that the priests should keep accurate lists of births and deaths. Anyone whose name did not appear on these lists was assumed to belong to the alien faith. This organization was completed in the time of Iemitsu.

THE FOURTH SHOGUN, IETSUNA

Ietsuna, the fourth Tokugawa shogun, eldest son of Iemitsu, was born in 1642 and succeeded to the office in 1651, holding it until his death in 1680. In bequeathing the administrative power to a youth in his tenth year, Iemitsu clearly foresaw that trouble was likely to arise. He therefore instructed his younger brother, Hoshina Masayuki, baron of Aizu, to render every assistance to his nephew, and he appointed Ii Naotaka to be prime minister, associating with him Sakai Tadakatsu, Matsudaira Nobutsuna, Abe Tadaaki, and other statesmen of proved ability. These precautions were soon seen to be necessary, for the partisans of the Toyotomi seized the occasion to attempt a coup. The country at that time swarmed with ronin (wave-men); that is to say, samurai who were, for various reasons, roving free-lances. There seems to have been a large admixture of something very like European chivalry in the make up of these ronin, for some of them seem to have wandered about merely to right wrongs and defend the helpless. Others sought adventure for adventure's sake and for glory's, challenging the best swordsman in each place to which they came. Many seem to have taken up the lives of wanderers out of a notion of loyalty; the feudal lords to whom they had owed allegiance had been crushed by the Tokugawa and they refused to enter the service of the shogun.

The last-named reason seems to have been what prompted the revolt of 1651, when Ietsuna, aged ten, had just succeeded in the shogunate his father Iemitsu who had exalted the power of the Tokugawa at the expense of their military houses. The ronin headed by Yui Shosetsu and Marubashi Chuya plotted to set fire to the city of Yedo and take the shogun's castle. The plot was discovered. Shosetsu committed suicide, and Chuya was crucified. In the following year (1652) another intrigue was formed under the leadership of Bekki Shoetnon, also a ronin. On this occasion the plan was to murder Ii Naotaka, the first minister of State, as well as his colleagues, and then to set fire to the temple Zojo-ji on the occasion of a religious ceremony. But this plot, also, was discovered before it matured, and it proved to be the last attempt that was made to overthrow the Bakufu by force until more than two hundred years had passed.

THE LEGISLATION OF IEMITSU AND IETSUNA

On the 5th of August, 1635, a body of laws was issued by Iemitsu under the title of Buke Sho-hatto, and these laws were again promulgated on June 28, 1665, by the fourth shogun, Ietsuna, with a few alterations. The gist of the code of Iemitsu was as follows: That literature and arms were to be the chief object of cultivation; that the great and small barons were to do service by turns in Yedo, strict limits being set to the number of their retainers; that all work on new castles was strictly interdicted, and that all repairs of existing castles must not be undertaken without sanction from the Yedo administration; that in the event of any unwonted occurrence, all barons present at the scene must remain and await the shogun's orders; that no person other than the officials in charge might be present at an execution; that there must be no scheming innovations, forming of parties, or taking of oaths; that private quarrels were strictly interdicted, and that all matters difficult of arrangement must be reported to the Yedo administration; that barons having an income of ten thousand koku or more, and their chief officials, must not form matrimonial alliances without the shogun's permission; that greater simplicity and economy must be obeyed in social observances, such as visits of ceremony, giving and receiving presents, celebrating marriages, entertaining at banquets, building residences, and general striving after elegance; that there must be no indiscriminate intermingling (of ranks); that, as regards the materials of dress, undyed silk with woven patterns (shiro aya) must be worn only by Court nobles (kuge) and others of the highest ranks; that wadded coats of undyed silk might be worn by daimyo and others of higher rank; that lined coats of purple silk, silk coats with the lining of purple, white gloss silk, and coloured silk coats without the badge were not to be worn at random; that coming down to retainers, henchmen, and men-at-arms, the wearing by such persons of ornamental dresses such as silks, damask, brocade, or embroideries was quite unknown to the ancient laws, and a stop must be put to it; that all the old restrictions as to riding in palanquins must be observed; that retainers who had a disagreement with their original lord were not to be taken into employment by other daimyo; that if any such was reported as having been guilty of rebellion or homicide, he was to be sent back (to his former lord); that any who manifests a refractory disposition must either be sent back or expelled; that where the hostages given by sub-vassals to their mesne lords had committed an offence requiring punishment by banishment or death, a report in writing of the circumstances must be made to the administrators' office and their decision awaited; that in case the circumstances were such as to necessitate or justify the instant cutting-down of the offender, a personal account of the matter must be given to the administrator; that lesser feudatories must honestly discharge the duties of their position and refrain from giving unlawful or arbitrary orders (to the people of their fiefs); that they must take care not to impair the resources or well-being of the province or district in which they are; that roads, relays of post-horses, boats, ferries, and bridges must be carefully attended to, so as to ensure that there should be no delays or impediments to quick communication; that no private toll-bars might be erected or any existing ferry discontinued; that no vessels of over five hundred koku burden were to be built; that the glebe lands of shrines and temples scattered throughout the provinces, having been attached to them from ancient times to the present day, were not to be taken from them; that the Christian sect was to be strictly prohibited in all the provinces and in all places; that in case of any unfilial conduct the offender should be dealt with under the penal law; that in all matters the example set by the laws of Yedo was to be followed in all the provinces and places.

As has been noted above, this same body of laws was re-enacted under the authority of Ietsuna, with the following slight alterations, namely, that the veto was removed from the wearing of costly ornamented dresses by retainers, henchmen, and men-at-arms, and that the restriction as to size should not apply to a cargo vessel. At the same time a prohibition of junshi (following in death) was issued in these terms:

"That the custom of following a master in death is wrong and unprofitable is a caution which has been at times given from of old; but owing to the fact that it has not actually been prohibited, the number of those who cut their belly to follow their lord on his decease has become very great. For the future, to those retainers who may be animated by such an idea, their respective lords should intimate, constantly and in very strong terms, their disapproval of the custom. If, notwithstanding this warning, any instance of the practice should occur, it will be deemed that the deceased lord was to blame for unreadiness. Henceforward, moreover, his son and successor will be held blameworthy for incompetence, as not having prevented the suicides."*

*From a paper read by Mr. Consul-General J. C. Hall and recorded in the "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan" for 1911.

RELEASE OF HOSTAGES

Another memorable step was taken during the administrative period of Ietsuna. It had been the custom to require that all the great nobles should send a number of their chief retainers or the latter's fathers, brothers, and sons to Yedo, where they were held as hostages for the peaceful conduct of their feudal chiefs. But when the system of sankin kotai had been in operation for some time, and when the power of the Tokugawa Bakufu had been fully consolidated, this practice of exacting hostages became superfluous and vexatious. It was therefore abandoned in the year 1665 and the hostages were all suffered to leave Yedo.

THE MING DYNASTY

The fall of the Ming dynasty in China took place in the thirteenth year of Ietsuna's succession, and for a moment it seemed that Japan might possibly take the field against the conquering Tatars. A Chinese immigrant who had settled in the island of Hirado, in Hizen, married the daughter of a Japanese farmer, and had a son by her. The immigrant's name was Cheng Chi-lung, and when the partisans of the Ming dynasty made their last stand at Foochaw, they chose Cheng for general, through him soliciting aid from the Yedo Bakufu. Their request was earnestly discussed in Yedo, and it is possible that had the Ming officers held out a little longer, Japan might have sent an expedition across the sea. Cheng Chi-lung's son, Cheng Cheng-kung, resisted to the last, and when he fell fighting at Macao, his Japanese mother committed suicide. Other fugitives from China, notably an able scholar named Chu Chi-yu, settled in Japan at this time, and contributed not a little to the promotion of art and literature.

YEDO

The influence of the sankin kotai system upon the prosperity of Yedo, as well as upon the efficiency of the Tokugawa administration, has already been noticed. Indeed, Yedo in the middle of the seventeenth century was one of the most populous and prosperous cities in the world. But very little intelligence had been exercised in planning it. The streets were narrow and there were no bridges across the main river. Thus, in 1657, a fire broke out which, being fanned by a violent wind, burned for two days, destroying the greater part of the city together with the residences of nearly all the daimyo. The calamity occurred in the month of February and was accompanied by a violent snowstorm, which greatly increased the sufferings of the citizens. Tradition says that 108,000 persons lost their lives, but that number is probably an exaggeration. In the following year, another similar catastrophe occurred on almost the same scale, and it seemed as though Yedo could never rise from its ashes. Yet the result of these calamities was salutary. The Bakufu selected suitable situations for the residences of the daimyo, and issued a law requiring that the main thoroughfares must have a width of sixty feet and even the by-streets must not be narrower than from thirty to thirty-six feet. Moreover, three bridges, namely, the Ryogoku, the Eitai, and the Shin-o, were thrown across the Sumida. This river, which formed the eastern boundary of the city, had hitherto been left unbridged for military reasons, and the result was that on the occasion of the great conflagration thousands of people, caught between the flames and the river bank, had to choose death by burning or by drowning. Nevertheless, some officials opposed the building of bridges, and were only silenced by the astute remark of Sakai Tadakatsu that if Yedo was ever to be a great city, the convenience of its inhabitants must be first consulted, for, after all, the people themselves constituted the best stronghold. This may be regarded as an evidence of the deference that was beginning then to be paid to the non-military classes by the samurai.

It was at this time (1658), also, that the city of Yedo obtained its first supply of good water. There was already an aquaduct from Inokashira Lake to the Kanda district of the city, but it carried only a very small volume of water, and the idea of harnessing the Tama-gawa to supply the town was due to two citizens, Shoemon and Seiemon, who subsequently received the family name of Tamagawa. The Bakufu granted a sum of 7500 ryo towards the expense, and on the completion of the work within two years, gifts of 300 ryo were made to the two projectors. The water had to be carried through a distance of over thirty miles, and the enterprise did high credit to the engineering skill of the men of the time.

DECADENCE OF THE BAKUFU ADMINISTRATION

The era of this fourth Tokugawa shogun, Ietsuna, was remarkable for things other than the lawlessness of the "wave-men." From that time the Tokugawa began to fare as nearly all great families of previous ages had fared: the substance of the administrative power passed into the hands of a minister, its shadow alone remaining to the shogun. Sakai Tadakiyo was the chief author of this change. Secluded from contact with the outer world, Ietsuna saw and heard mainly through the eyes and ears of the ladies of his household. But Tadakiyo caused an order to be issued forbidding all access to the Court ladies except by ministerial permit, and thenceforth the shogun became practically deaf and dumb so far as events outside the castle were concerned. Some Japanese historians describe this event as an access of "weariness" on the shogun's part towards the duties of administration. This is a euphemism which can be interpreted by what has been set down above. From 1666, when he became prime minister in Yedo, Sakai Tadakiyo seems to have deliberately planned the relegation of his master to the position of a fainéant and the succession of the shogun's son to supreme power. Tadakiyo's lust of authority was equalled only by his cupidity. Everything went to the highest bidder. It had gradually become the fashion that the daimyo should invite to their Yedo residences all the leading administrators of the Bakufu. On these entertainments great sums were squandered and valuable presents were a feature of the fetes. It also became fashionable to pay constant visits at the mansions of the chief officials and these visits were always accompanied with costly gifts. It is recorded that the mansion of Tadakiyo was invariably so crowded by persons waiting to pay their respects that a man repairing thither at daybreak could scarcely count on obtaining access by evening-fall. The depraved state of affairs brought the administration of the Tokugawa into wide disrepute, and loyal vassals of the family sadly contrasted the evil time with the days of Ieyasu, seventy years previously.

THE COURTS OF KYOTO AND OF YEDO

The great financial straits to which the Imperial Court was reduced during the time of the Muromachi shoguns have been already described. Both Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi made some endeavours to correct this evil state of affairs, and when Tokugawa Ieyasu came into power he adopted still more liberal methods. In 1604, he increased the revenue of the Court by 10,000 koku annually, and in the course of the next few years he caused the palace to be rebuilt on a scale of considerable grandeur. The same policy was pursued by the second shogun, Hidetada, who assigned to the ex-Emperor an income of 3000 koku and made various allowances to princes and other members of the Imperial family. The recipients of these allowances totalled 140, and it is on record that, in the year 1706, the revenues of the Imperial Court aggregated 29,000 koku; those of the ex-Emperor 15,000; those of the princes and Court nobles, 44,000; those of the Monzeki* temples, 19,000; those of the Court ladies and Imperial nuns, 7500, and those of the Court officials 2300, the whole making a total of about 120,000 koku. The income of the retired shogun alone equalled that amount, and it was enormously surpassed by the revenues of many of the daimyo. It must be noted, however, that although the rice provided for the above purposes was made a charge upon the Kinai provinces as well as upon Tamba and Omi, neither to the Emperor nor to the Imperial princes nor to the Court nobles were estates granted directly. These incomes were collected and transmitted by officials of the Bakufu, but not a tsubo of land was under the control of either sovereign or prince.

*Temples governed by Imperial princes.

Military affairs, civil administration, financial management, including the casting of coins, judicial and legislative affairs, the superintendence of temples, and so forth, were all in the hands of the Bakufu in Yedo or of provincial officials nominated by the shogun. Nothing could have been more complete than the exclusion of the Kyoto Court from the whole realm of practical government; nor could any system have contrasted more flagrantly with the theory of the Daika reforms, according to which every acre of land throughout the length and breadth of the empire was the property of the sovereign. It might have been expected that the Tokugawa shoguns would at least have endeavoured to soften this administrative effacement by pecuniary generosity; but so little of that quality did they display that the Emperor and the ex-Emperor were perpetually in a state of financial embarrassment. As for the Court nobles, their incomes did not always suffice even for the needs of every-day life, and they were obliged to have recourse to various devices, such as marrying their daughters to provincial governors or selling professional diplomas, the right of conferring which was vested in their families.

THE SEKKE, DENSO, AND SHOSHIDAI

The sole functions left to the Imperial Court were those of appointing the shogun--which of course was only formal--conferring ranks, fixing the name of year-periods, ordering the calendar, taking part in ceremonials, nominating priests and officials, and sanctioning the building of temples. Thus, the regent (kwampaku) was the sovereign's appointee. He had to be chosen in succession from one of the five families--Konoe, Takatsukasa, Kujo, Nijo, and Ichijo, to which the general name Go-sekke (the Five Regent Families) was given. But the regent was practically without power of any kind. Very different was the case of the denso, who had direct access to the Throne. Appointed by the shogun from one of seventeen families closely related to the Tokugawa, a denso, before entering upon the duties of his office, was obliged to swear that he would minutely and unreservedly report to the Bakufu everything coming to his knowledge. His principal duty was to communicate direct with the Throne. There was also another Bakufu nominee called the giso, who administered the affairs of the Imperial Court, and who held, in addition, the post of dai-nagon, chu-nagon, or sho-nagon, which offices were reserved for members of the Tokugawa family. Yet another official representing the Bakufu was the shoshidai, who managed all matters connected with the guarding of the Imperial Court and the Court nobles, at the same time transacting financial business. In the event of any disturbance occurring in Court circles in Kyoto, it was reported, first, to the shoshidai and, then, by him, to the senior officials in Yedo, while any disturbance occurring in Yedo was equally reported, first to the shoshidai and afterwards by the latter to the sovereign. The shoshidai was in fact a governor-general, with powers far superior to those of any Court noble, and his sway extended to the eight provinces in the neighbourhood of Kyoto. By means of the shoshidai all circumstances of the Imperial Court were fully conveyed to the Bakufu in Yedo and complete control was exercised over the Imperial capital and its environs. The Bakufu were careful to choose for this post a man whose loyalty and ability stood beyond question. Finally, reference may be made to the administrator of the reigning sovereign's Court (Kinri-zuki bugyo) and the administrator of the ex-Emperor's court (Sendo-zuki bugyo), both of whom were Bakufu nominees.

THE 107TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR GO-YOZEI (A.D. 1586-1611)

This Emperor held the sceptre throughout the memorable epoch from the death of Nobunaga till that of Ieyasu, and he continued to exercise power during six years after his abdication. It was he that conferred the post of shogun on Ieyasu and gave him his posthumous title of Tosho Gongen. His Majesty was the eldest son of the Emperor Okimachi. He surrendered the throne to his third son in 1611, dying at the age of forty-seven in 1617.

THE 108TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR GO-MIZU-NO-O (A.D. 1611-1629)

This sovereign had for consort a daughter of the shogun Hidetada, as already described. The wedding took place in the year 1620, and its magnificence offered a theme for enthusiastic comment by contemporary historians. The shogun was careful to surround the Imperial bride with officials of his own choosing, and these, joining hands with the shoshidai and the denso, constituted an entourage which ordered everything at Kyoto in strict accordance with the interests of the Tokugawa. The new Empress was dowered with an estate much larger than that of the Emperor himself, although the latter's allowance was increased by ten thousand koku. It is related that his Majesty's impecuniosity compelled the curtailment of various ceremonies and prevented the giving of presents in the ordinary routine of social conventions, so that it became necessary to replenish the Imperial purse by lending rice and money to the citizens at high rates of interest.

A serious collision occurred during Go-Mizu-no-o's reign between the Courts of Kyoto and Yedo. The Emperor, who inclined to literature and religion, conceived a profound reverence for two Buddhist prelates of great learning and conspicuously holy lives. To these priests, Takuan and Gyokushitsu, his Majesty presented purple robes, a mark of the highest distinction, in apparently unwitting violation of the ecclesiastical laws promulgated by Ieyasu, which forbade the giving of such robes to any bonzes except those of Kennin-ji. On learning of the incident, the Bakufu summoned these prelates to Yedo, deprived them of the robes, and sent them into banishment. The Emperor, naturally much offended, declared that he would no longer occupy the throne, and in 1629, the year of the two priests' transportation, he carried out his threat, abdicating in favour of the Imperial princess, Oki, his eldest daughter by the Tokugawa Empress.

THE 109TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPRESS MYOSHO (A.D. 1629-1643)

The Princess Oki, eldest daughter of Tokufu-mon-in and the Emperor Go-Mizu-no-o, was only seven years of age when thus called on to occupy the throne. During eight hundred years no female had wielded the sceptre of Japan, and the princess was not without a brother older than herself, though born of a different mother. Thus, the announcement of the Emperor's intention created profound astonishment in the Imperial Court. The partisans of the Bakufu supported the project, but the friends of the Imperial family denounced it strenuously. Nothing moved the Emperor, however. His Majesty appears to have thought that to bestow the princess' hand on a subject and to elevate her elder brother to the throne would surely be productive of serious mischief, since the husband of the princess, supported by the Bakufu, would prove an invincible power in the State.

As for the Tokugawa statesmen, some accounts allege that they objected to the Emperor's project, but others say that when the matter was reported in Yedo, the shogun signified that his Majesty might consult his own judgment. What is certain is that the Bakufu sent to Kyoto the prime minister, Sakai Tadakiyo, with three other representatives, and that shortly after their arrival in the Imperial capital, arrangements were completed for the proposed change. The Imperial consort, Tofuku-mon-in, was declared ex-Empress with a revenue of 10,000 koku, and the little princess, who is known in history as Myosho, received an income of 20,000 koku; while to the ex-Emperor, Go-Mizu-no-o, only 3000 koku were allotted. Not until 1634, on the occasion of a visit made by Iemitsu, was this glaring contrast corrected: the shogun then increased the ex-Emperor's allowance to 7000 koku, and his Majesty continued to administer public affairs from his place of retirement until 1680, when he died hi his eighty-fifth year.

THE 110TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR GO-KOMYO (A.D. 1643-1654)

This sovereign was a brother of the Empress Myosho but of a different mother. He was brought up by Tofuku-mon-in as though he were her real child, until he succeeded to the throne at the age of eleven, occupying it for eleven years. Form his earliest youth he showed sagacity, magnanimity, and benevolence. His love of literature was absorbing, and he studied earnestly, taking the priests of the Five Temples as his teachers. He is said to have arrived at the conclusion that a sovereign should never study any useless branch of learning, and as he failed to see the utility of Buddhism, he turned to Confucianism in preference. Moreover, dissatisfied with the old commentaries of the Han and Tang dynasties, he chose in their stead the new classics composed by Chengtsz and Chutsz; and as for Japanese literature, he condemned as grossly misleading works like the Genji Monogatari and the Ise Monogatari.

There can be no doubt that this sovereign conceived the ambition of recovering the administrative authority. His reign extended from the twenty-second year of Iemitsu's sway to the fifth of Ietsuna's, and in the troubles of that period he thought that he saw his opportunity. It is related that he devoted much attention to sword exercise, and the shoshidai Itakura Shigemune warned him that the study of military matters did not become the Imperial Court and would probably provoke a remonstrance from Yedo should the fact become known there. The Emperor taking no notice of this suggestion, Shigemune went so far as to declare his intention of committing suicide unless the fencing lessons were discontinued. Thereupon the young Emperor calmly observed: "I have never seen a military man kill himself, and the spectacle will be interesting. You had better have a platform erected in the palace grounds so that your exploit may be clearly witnessed." When this incident was reported by the shoshidai to Yedo, the Bakufu concluded that some decisive measure must be taken, but before their resolve had materialized and before the sovereign's plans had matured, he died of small-pox, in 1654, at the age of twenty-two, having accomplished nothing except the restoration and improvement of certain Court ceremonials, the enactment of a few sumptuary laws, and the abandonment of cremation in the case of Imperial personages.

THE 111TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR GO-SAIEN (A.D. 1654-1663) AND THE 112TH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR REIGEN (A.D. 1663-1686)

Go-Saien was the sixth son of the Emperor Go-Mizu-no-o. His reign is remarkable in connexion with the attitude of the Yedo Bakufu towards the Throne. In 1657, as already related, Yedo was visited by a terrible conflagration, and another of scarcely less destructive violence occurred in the same city the following year, while, in 1661, the Imperial palace itself was burned to the ground, the same fate overtaking the principal Shinto shrine in Ise, and nearly every province suffering more or less from a similar cause. Moreover, in 1662, a series of earthquakes disturbed the country throughout a whole month, and the nation became almost demoralized in the face of these numerous calamities. Then the Bakufu took an extraordinary step. They declared that such visitations must be referred to the sovereign's want of virtue and that the only remedy lay in his abdication. The shogun, Ietsuna, was now ruling in Yedo. He sent envoys to Kyoto conveying an order for the dethronement of the Emperor, and although his Majesty was ostensibly allowed to abdicate of his own will, there could be no doubt as to the real circumstances of the case. His brother, Reigen, succeeded him, and after holding the sceptre for twenty-four years, continued to administer affairs from his place of retirement until his death, in 1732.

SANKE AND SANKYO

When Ieyasu, after the battle of Sekigahara, distributed the fiefs throughout the Empire, he gave four important estates to his own sons, namely, Echizen to Hideyasu; Owari to Tadayoshi; Mito to Nobuyoshi, and Echigo to Tadateru. Subsequently, after the deaths of Tadayoshi and Nobuyoshi, he assigned Owari to his sixth son, Yoshinao, and appointed his seventh son, Yorinobu, to the Kii fief, while to his eighth son, Yorifusa, Mito was given. These last three were called the Sanke (the Three Families). From them the successor to the shogunate was chosen in the event of failure of issue in the direct line. Afterwards this system was extended by the addition of three branch-families (Sankyo), namely those of Tayasu and Hitotsubashi by Munetake and Munetada, respectively, sons of the shogun Yoshimune, and that of Shimizu by Shigeyoshi, son of the shogun Ieshige. It was enacted that if no suitable heir to the shogunate was furnished by the Sanke, the privilege of supplying one should devolve on the Sankyo, always, however, in default of an heir in the direct line. The representatives of the Sanke had their estates and castles, but no fiefs were assigned to the Sankyo; they resided in Yedo close to the shogun's palace, and received each an annual allowance from the Bakufu treasury.

THE FEUDAL SYSTEM OF THE TOKUGAWA

It has been shown that in distributing the fiefs Ieyasu aimed at paralyzing the power of the tozama daimyo and vitalizing that of the fudai barons. This he effected, as far as concerned the tozama feudatories, by isolating them from each other, or by placing those of equal strength in juxtaposition, so that they might become rivals; while in the case of fudai barons, he established an effective system of communications between them, so that co-operation and concentration of forces were facilitated. Broadly speaking, this method had for result the planting of the tozama daimyo in the west and of the fudai barons in the east, as well as along the main roads between the two capitals. The plan worked admirably during 270 years, but at the Restoration, in 1867, the western daimyo combined to overthrow the shogunate.

Very noticeable were the steps taken to provide facilities for communication between Yedo and Kyoto. No less than fifty-three posting stations were established along the road from the Bakufu capital to the Imperial city, and at several places barriers were set up. Among these latter, Hakone was considered specially important. The duty of guarding the barrier there was assigned to the Okubo family, who enjoyed the full confidence of the Tokugawa and who had their castle in Odawara. No one could pass this barrier without a permit. Women were examined with signal strictness, they being regarded as part of the system which required that the wives of the daimyo should live in Yedo as hostages. Thus, whereas a man was granted ingress or egress if he carried a passport signed by his own feudal chief and addressed to the guards at the barrier, a woman might not pass unless she was provided with an order signed by a Bakufu official. Moreover, female searchers were constantly on duty whose business it was to subject women travellers to a scrutiny of the strictest character, involving, even, the loosening of the coiffure. All these precautions formed part of the sankin kotai system, which proved one of the strongest buttresses of Tokugawa power. But, from the days of Ietsuna, the wives and children of the daimyo were allowed to return to their provinces, and under the eighth shogun, Yoshimune, the system of sankin kotai ceased to be binding. This was because the Tokugawa found themselves sufficiently powerful to dispense with such artificial aids.

THE FIEFS

There were certain general divisions of the feudatories. Everyone possessing a fief of 10,000 koku or upwards was called a daimyo. The title included the Sanke, the Sankyo, the gokemon (governor of Echizen), the fudai (hereditary vassals), and the tozama. These were again subdivided into three classes according to the sizes of their fiefs. In the first class stood the kokushu (called also kuni-mochi, or provincial barons) who possessed revenues of at least 300,000 koku. The second class consisted of the joshu (called also shiro-mochi, or castle-owning barons) whose incomes ranged between 100,000 and 300,000 koku. Finally, the third class was composed of the ryoshu (sometimes known as shiro-nashi, or castleless barons), whose revenues ranged from 10,000 to 100,000 koku. These feudatories might be recommended by the shogun for Court rank in Kyoto, but the highest office thus conferred was that of dainagon (great councillor), from which fact the attitude of the feudatories towards imperially conferred distinctions can be easily appreciated. Nevertheless, the rules of etiquette were strictly observed by provincial magnates attending Court functions. They had to conform carefully to the order of their precedence and with the sumptuary rules as to colour and quality of garments, and any departure from these conventions was severely punished.

SUCCESSION

If a feudatory committed some crime or died childless, the law required that he should be transferred to another province, or that his successor should suffer a considerable reduction of revenue. Experience showed, however, that as many of the feudatories died childless, there were numerous losses of fiefs, and ultimately it was enacted that a baron might adopt a successor by way of precaution, unless he deferred that step until he lay dying or sought permission to take it before he reached the age of seventeen. This meant that if any feudal chief died before reaching his seventeenth year, his estate was lost to his family. By way of correcting such a hardship, the adoption of an heir was afterwards sanctioned without reference to the age of the adopter, and it was further decided that a man of fifty or upwards might adopt a son even on his death-bed. Finally, in the year 1704, all these restrictions were virtually abolished, and especially the rule that an adopted son must necessarily belong to the family of his adopter.

SEVERITY OF THE TOKUGAWA TOWARDS THE FEUDATORIES

Although Ieyasu and his successors in the shogunate did not fail to provide large estates for their own kith and kin, they never showed any leniency in dealing with the latter's offences. Ieyasu professed to believe in the potency of justice above all administrative instruments, and certainly he himself as well as his successors obeyed that doctrine unswervingly in so far as the treatment of their own families was concerned. They did not hesitate to confiscate fiefs, to pronounce sentence of exile, or even to condemn to death. Thus, in the year of Ieyasu's decease, his sixth son, Matsudaira Tadateru, was deprived of his fief--610,000 koku--and removed from Echigo to Asama, in Ise. Tadateru's offence was that he had unjustly done a vassal of the shogun to death, and had not moved to the assistance of the Tokugawa in the Osaka War. Moreover, when his elder brother, the shogun Hidetada, repaired to the Imperial palace, Tadateru had pretended to be too ill to accompany him, though in reality he was engaged in a hunting expedition. This was the first instance of the Bakufu punishing one of their own relatives.

Another example was furnished in 1623 when Matsudaira Tadanao, lord of Echizen, was sentenced to confinement in his own house and was ordered to hand over his fief of 750,000 koku to his heir. This Tadanao was a grandson of Ieyasu, and had shown himself a strong soldier in the Osaka War. But subsequently he fell into habits of violence and lawlessness, culminating in neglect of the sankin kotai system. His uncle, the shogun Hidetada, sentenced him as above described. Under the administration of Iemitsu this unflinching attitude towards wrongdoers was maintained more relentlessly than ever. The dai nagon, Tadanaga, lord of Suruga and younger brother of Iemitsu by the same mother, received (1618) in Kai province a fief of 180,000 koku, and, seven years later, this was increased by Suruga and Totomi, bringing the whole estate up to 500,000 koku. He resided in the castle of Sumpu and led an evil life, paying no attention whatever to the remonstrances of his vassals. In 1632, Iemitsu confiscated his fief and exiled him to Takasaki in Kotsuke, where he was compelled to undergo confinement in the Yashiki of Ando Shigenaga. Fourteen months later, sentence of death was pronounced against him at the early age of twenty-eight.

Other instances might be quoted showing how little mercy the Tokugawa shoguns extended to wrongdoers among their own relatives. It need hardly be said that outside clans fared no better. Anyone who gave trouble was promptly punished. Thus, in 1614, Okubo Tadachika, who had rendered good service to the Bakufu in early days, and who enjoyed the full confidence of the shogun, was deprived of his castle at Odawara and sentenced to confinement for the comparatively trifling offence of contracting a private marriage. Again, in 1622, the prime minister, Honda Masazumi, lord of Utsunomiya, lost his fief of 150,000 koku and was exiled to Dawe for the sin of rebuilding his castle without due permission, and killing a soldier of the Bakufu. To persons criticising this latter sentence as too severe, Doi Toshikatsu is recorded to have replied that any weakness shown at this early stage of the Tokugawa rule must ultimately prove fatal to the permanence of the Bakufu, and he expressed the conviction that none would approve the punishment more readily than Masazumi's dead father, Masanobu, were he still living to pass judgment.

Doubtless political expediency, not the dictates of justice, largely inspired the conduct of the Bakufu in these matters, for in proportion as the material influence of the Tokugawa increased, that of the Toyotomi diminished. In 1632, when the second shogun, Hidetada, died, it is related that the feudal barons observed the conduct of his successor, Iemitsu, with close attention, and that a feeling of some uneasiness prevailed. Iemitsu, whether obeying his own instinct or in deference to the advice of his ministers, Sakai Tadakatsu and Matsudaira Nobutsuna, summoned the feudal chiefs to his castle in Yedo and addressed them as follows: "My father and my grandfather, with your assistance and after much hardship, achieved their great enterprise to which I, who have followed the profession of arms since my childhood, now succeed. It is my purpose to treat you all without distinction as my hereditary vassals. If any of you object to be so treated, let him return to his province and take the consequences."

Date Masamune assumed the duty of replying to that very explicit statement. "There is none here," he said, "that is not grateful for the benevolence he has received at the hands of the Tokugawa. If there be such a thankless and disloyal person, and if he conceive treacherous designs, I, Masamune, will be the first to attack him and strike him down. The shogun need not move so much as one soldier." With this spirited reply all the assembled daimyo expressed their concurrence, and Iemitsu proceeded to distribute his father's legacies to the various barons and their vassals. Very soon after his accession he had to order the execution of his own brother, Tadanaga, and the banishment of Kato Tadahiro, son of the celebrated Kato Kiyomasa. The latter was punished on the ground that he sent away his family from Yedo during the time of mourning for the late shogun, Hidetada. He was deprived of his estate at Kumamoto in Higo and was exiled to Dewa province.

The punishment of these two barons is said to have been in the sequel of a device planned by Iemitsu and carried out by Doi Toshikatsu. The latter, being accused of a simulated crime, was sentenced to confinement in his mansion. Thence he addressed to all the daimyo a secret circular, urging them to revolt and undertaking to make Tadanaga shogun instead of Iemitsu. With two exceptions every baron to whose hands this circular came forwarded it to the Bakufu in Yedo. The exceptions were Tadanaga and Tadahiro, who consequently fell under the shogun's suspicion. Thereafter, it is related that some of the barons set themselves to deceive the Bakufu by various wiles. Thus, Maeda Toshinaga had recourse to the manoeuvre of allowing the hair in his nostrils to grow long, a practice which speedily earned for him the reputation of insanity, and Date Masamune conceived the device of carrying a sword with a wooden blade. The apprehensions of which such acts were indicative cannot be considered surprising in view of the severe discipline exercised by the Bakufu. Thus, during the shogunate of Hidetada, no less than forty changes are recorded to have been made among the feudatories, and in the time of Iemitsu there were thirty-five of such incidents. History relates that to be transferred from one fief to another, even without nominal loss of revenue, was regarded as a calamity of ten years' duration. All this was partly prompted by the Bakufu's policy of weakening the feudatories. To the same motive must be assigned constant orders for carrying out some costly public work.

ENGRAVING: FANS

ENGRAVING: "THE BUGAKU," ANCIENT DANCING AND MUSIC